


That Bites

by aam5ever



Series: That Bites [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen, Slightly spooky, Vampire!Joel, a bit of a emotional rollercoasters, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 18:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 35,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2399240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aam5ever/pseuds/aam5ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joel didn't mean to get in trouble with the government. He just wanted to have a little drink.<br/>Ray didn't mean to get Joel in trouble with the government. He just wanted to help a friend out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just a Sip

**Author's Note:**

> This is a series that has some (maybe many) out of character instances, but that's pretty obvious to see since vampires come into play in this world. May or may not be continued, mostly to use as practice for more advanced conflict.

"Can I drink from you?"

"No."

"Don't be like that, just one sip-"

"Joel I swear to God-"

"It'll be quick, easy, c'mon it's almost Halloween! Don't you- I mean- wouldn't you want to be the fuckin' guy who has a real fuckin' vampire bite?"

"Joel, go away."

Ray shook his head at older man, who frowned. One of his fangs managed to peek out, and it's overly sharp point made Ray gulp subconsciously. He had known the vampire for a few years. Hell, the world they lived in was a mix of the humans and the vampires, the vampires a very little yet prominent population of the world. They were actually sparking more problems than usual, mainly because of the upcoming holiday. 

"Ray, you're being unreasonable-"

"What do I get out of this?" Ray asked. "It's obviously gonna mean the world to you. What my gain?"

"...helping out a friend, a fuckin' awesome vampire bite, and the best hickie of your damn life?" Joel tried to persuade.

Ray, although blushing at the thought of Joel leaving a mark on his neck, was not buying it. "You're so desperate. Why me?"

Joel shrugged. "You're the only one who didn't walk away with a damn laugh or scoff."

"Part of that is because I'm editing. The other part is that you're standing in front of me, asshole. I can't move from here." The Puerto Rican was right. Joel was blocking him from the rest of the spacious, empty office, and the door.

"...please, Ray?" Joel pleaded again, now using puppy dog eyes.

Ray just couldn't take it anymore. "Will you ever move if I say no?"

Joel shook his head.

"Damn it, fine."

The younger man reluctantly got up from his chair, and Joel backed up to make room for him.

Ray sighed. "Okay, so what do I do?"

Joel's fingers reached up and rubbed Ray's neck, and picked a smaller vien to puncture that wasn't going to seriously harm his friend. "Just stand there and look pretty."

"That's all I'm good for." Ray tried to joke. He really said the joke for himself, because his heart was pounding faster and faster as Joel inched closer.

"Ray... calm down..." Joel felt the younger man's heart go from 0 to 100 as he got closer. He came close enough to make Ray tilt his head to the side. "I'll try not to hurt you, it'll be quick."

"You better not kill me, Heyman."

Joel chuckled. "I'll do my best not to." His lips now hovered over Ray's neck, and his tongue darted out and licked the man's neck. Ray felt his stomach flip flop at that one action. Then, he felt pressure on his skin. Joel's fangs were beginning to ease into his neck. When they finally pierced the flesh, Ray hissed at the pain. The blood rushed up to the surface, and Joel happily drank the liquid right up, thankful for Ray's sweet essence.

The man being bitten suddenly felt no actual pain. Instead, it felt like tingling, stinging pleasure that he could not compare to anything else he's ever experienced. As the time went on, Ray felt the stinging more than the pleasure, and came to the realization that Joel did not have any intention of stopping.

"Joel." He firmly said. Ray was beginning to feel faint, and more stinging and actual pain was surfacing over the weird pleasure high the younger man had gotten before. "Joel, stop!"

But the vampire was too into it. He hadn't drank from a human in so long, and he wanted the moment to last forever. Joel hungrily sucked on Ray's neck more, and felt hands on his shoulders, trying to push him off. The man wasn't going to let the grabby hands stop him from drinking his full, though. He continued to sip on the delicious red that was smoothly rolling down his throat. It was just too tempting to get away from.

"Joel! Joel, please..." Ray was growing desperate. The pain, pleasure, fear, and tiny essence of him that didn't want Joel to finish ever mixed together into a vat of emotions that he didn't have much control over. He knew the right thing was to push the vampire off of him before he passed out or worse, but God damn, it felt so good...

Suddenly, Joel's meal was cut short by a yank from a certain Michael Jones and a squawk from a certain Gavin Free.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" Michael shouted at the older man that was now on the floor, in a daze from the sudden yank. "You piece of shit, you could've killed Ray! Who do you think you fucking are?"

"I-I'm sorry, I..." Joel was ashamed and embarrassed. He should've known when to stop.

"Bloody hell, you're sorry!" Gavin actually looked angry, and boy, he was pretty scary when he was angry. "You think he's some sort of juice box? Don't just go attacking people in your own damn company!"

Ray realized what the men were thinking "Guys-"

Joel was really shaken up. "I- wow I really- Ray I'm so sorry, I should've-"

"Get the fuck out!" Michael's eyes were on fire, angrier than he'd ever been at anyone in a while. "Don't even try to cover your sorry ass-"

"Guys!" Ray shouted over the livid man. Michael's friend's eyes softened as soon as he saw his pretty pale looking friend.

"Ray, are you okay?" Gavin immediately asked. Slowly, Joel got up, his lips and teeth bloodied, his eyes full of worry.

"I-I'm fine." He immediately answered. "Joel didn't attack me. He asked."

"H-he asked?" Michael shot a glance at the older man. "But he-"

"I said yes, and let him do it." Ray cut him off. "If it was anyone's fault for anything whatsoever, it was mine."

Joel looked down and folded his arms, not wanting to look at the younger man that, at the moment, had much more balls than him. Michael still glared at the older man.

"He still shouldn't have asked."

Ray sighed. "I'm gonna go clean myself up. Maybe get a bandage and a cookie."

"I'll come help." Gavin didn't like staying mad or in awkward situations for too long, so he tagged along with Ray, who's neck was still trickling blood and slightly hurting.

Joel looked up at Michael as the other two left. The red head still held that glimmer of 'you fucked up' in his eyes. "I didn't mean to... to hurt him... or get him into any trouble..."

"Joel, I don't think you understand." Michael said with a bit less malice. "When a vampire drinks from a human, there's ALWAYS trouble."

What Joel didn't realize was that soon, that would be true.


	2. Speculation and Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray isn't the best at hiding things. Like feelings, events, bite marks... the list goes on.  
> What'll happen when he doesn't hide the mark Joel left on him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I got a few positive remarks on this, I decided to continue. I have 3 more chapters in stock, just in case more is wanted. This may quickly turn into a series.   
> (Warning: Future HUGE conflict)  
> (Tumblr: aam5ever)

It was the next day that anyone else besides the four that witnessed the event noticed that Ray had a bandage on his neck. He tried to not call attention to it by wearing his Twitch hoodie, but that wasn't enough to hide the mark from his coworkers.

Around the bandage, the skin had actually become a darker color, and was sore. Joel was right, it was a pretty damn good hickie.

It was Geoff who saw it first. He usually noticed things out of the ordinary. "Hey, what's that?" He immediately pulled Ray's hood down, who yelped at the sudden tug. He saw his boss' face change from curiousity to confusion. "The fuck?"

"Don't worry about it." Ray tried to play it off. "It's nothing." He turned back to his monitor, clicking through things aimlessly as Geoff continued to stare at the bandage.

"Is that a bruise?" He asked. "Why does it look so weird?"

"Geoff, drop it, it's nothing major." Ray rolled his eyes. "I got mauled by a pack of wolves, happy?"

"I'm pretty sure they'd break you on half." Was the older man's response. Then, a thought came to his mind. "Is that a vampire bite?"

"What the hell gives you that idea?"

"The bandage has two blood dots on it, like a vampire bite."

Ray bit his lip before answering. "Anything can make blood dots. Also, who would even want to bite me? I'm pretty sure my blood is full of every fast food known to man." He tried to make it seem like that was the end of the conversation.

Geoff shook his head. "Ray, what the hell? Just tell me what it really is." 

"What what is?" Michael had took off his headphones just then. At the same time, Ryan entered the room.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." Ray answered both of them. "Absolutely nothing."

"I think Ray got bit by a vampire." Geoff admitted. "But he won't tell me."

"Bit?" Michael snorted. "More like fucking mauled. Joel really did a number on you, Ray." Ray winced at the mention of the older man.

"Mauled? Joel?!" Geoff's face went from confused to angry. "He's not allowed to do that, no way! That son of a bitch-"

"Woah, Geoff, wait!" Ray stopped the tattooed man before he could storm off and beat up the vampire. He explained what had happened to his boss, not getting into too much detail, and Geoff softened a bit. 

"So..." Geoff was trying to summarize it for himself. "He asked you..." Then he smirked. "And you wanted him to?" Geoff's one eyebrow was raised in questioning. "You wanted Joel to give you a vampire hickie?" Michael and Ryan snickered from their respective seats.

"Yes- no wait- it was- ugh shut up." Ray gave up on explaining, and instead pulled his hood up, placing his headphones over his ears yet again to do more editing.

Later, when Ray went to get a water from the company fridge, he stopped short when seeing Joel.

Joel could smell him (or his blood, mostly) in the area, and turned to look at the Puerto Rican. "H-hey."

"Hey."

Then, there were moments of silence. 

Joel didn't know what to say. I mean, what do you say the the man you were tempted to suck dry? He couldn't help but feel bad about what thoughts he had while drinking from the younger coworker. The older man slowly turned his attention back to the pot of coffee he was making before saying anything else. "I-um, are you okay?" 

Ray nodded before realizing how stupid he was for doing so, since Joel wasn't looking at him. "Yeah, I'm alright. I'm pretty sure all the other guys in the office know now, though." Ray began to walk to the fridge and get himself that water he'd been wanting the entire time.

"They do?" Joel bit his lip and folded his arms. "Shit."

"I don't think they're mad at you." Ray assured him as he pulled the water bottle out of the fridge. "By the way, thanks for the hickie."

"Hickie?" The older man's eyes widened before Ray smirked as he turned his head for him to see. Yep. The slightly puckered, darkened area around the bandage on Ray's neck was definetely Joel's doing. He blushed. "Sorry."

Ray shrugged. "Nothing I mind." He felt kind of stupid for saying that. Wasn't it weird to say he didn't mind that his male friend gave him a pretty serious hickie? Was it not? Ray didn't even want to think about it at the moment.

Joel caught what the man had said. "You don't mind it...?"

"Well- I mean-" What was wrong with him today? "I gotta go." And with that, Ray left Joel. The vampire smirked, his one fang showing. 

Within a few days, Ray was able to remove the bandage. It was then confirmed that yes, it was two perfectly shaped holes, where vampire fangs once were. Ray couldn't help but think about when Joel had bit him at times. How good it felt... how much he liked it... what did this all mean?

As they recorded VS, Ray forgot about the holes on his neck, not bothering to cover it up in any way. It was a match between Lindsay and Ryan, and the two had picked the perfect game of Wii tennis to participate in. Let's just say they expected the video to get a pretty generous amount of views.

And they were right. Once it was released, the fans were loving it. There were enough positive remarks about the video that any negative comments were immediately negated. However, there were as many people that liked it as people who noticed a little something different with Ray...

"Is Ray a vampire now?" A boy far, far away from Texas asked his own vampire girlfriend next to him. They loved to watch Achievement Hunter videos together, especially the day the videos come out. "Like, he had that thing on his neck..."

"Becoming a vampire isn't just a bite, Danny." His girlfriend explained. "Plus, who could've bit him? The only vampire in the company I can think of at the moment is Brandon. Oh, there's also Joel..."

"Maybe one of them did it?" Danny asked. "Sarah, that's not just some random mark."

Well, they weren't wrong. It really wasn't any random mark indeed.

Soon, a lot of fans figured that out.


	3. A Newer, Bigger Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this world of vampires as humans, the government is going to get worried, of course.  
> How worried?  
> Worried enough to try a new kind of segregation.  
> How will this effect Joel, Ray, and the rest of the company?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I totally did not post this to the wrong fanfic and then delete it before what)  
> So, yeah. This is going to be the biggest conflict I've ever written! Stay tuned to find out what happens!  
> (Tumblr: aam5ever)  
> Comments welcome!

"Ray, you clueless bastard," It was Geoff talking to him. "You didn't cover up that damn bite from Joel, and now the fans see it!"

"What?" Ray looked over at Geoff, who seemed annoyed and worried. "Oh shit, really?" Ray subconsciously rubbed the mark."How?"

"The VS with Ryan and Lindsay came out, and in that, your fucking bite was showing." Geoff explained. "What's gonna happen now?"

It was an afternoon after a Let's Play, and the two were the only ones in the office at the time. Geoff had come across the speculation upon checking their website. He knew that this wasn't going to be good, with all the new controversy and all...

Just then, someone's knocked on the frame of the door. It was Joel, along with Brandon and Burnie. It was an odd assortment, so something had to be off. 

"Hey, guys, we need a talk. Like, a meeting." Burnie told them. "And quick."

"What's going on?" Ray's tattooed boss asked. 

Burnie sighed. "We may need to hide Joel and Brandon."

The meeting took place pretty quickly, with everyone rushing to figure out what was going on. It was a very uncertain, stressed tone on the meeting, and what Burnie and Matt disclosed was even more so stressful.

"As you all know, all of America is mixed between vampires and humans." Matt began. "Recently, there has been a lot more 'issues' regarding the integration of the two. So, our government is actually going to segregate the two species." Everyone gasped, and tittered with whispers and worried looks. Most looks went to the only two vampires in the room, Joel and Brandon. Matt continued. "They'll only let the vampires who haven't bit anyone stay integrated among the humans. The only ones to leave are the ones who have bitten humans at any time, in any place, with or without consent." Immediately, Ray and Joel shot each other wide eyed expressions.

"They're planning to check frequently in order to see who would need to be added to the segregation." Burnie picked up where Matt finished his part. "They'll put these vampires in certain neighborhoods that humans can't enter, and vampires can't exit. The vampires are expected to have no contact with humans, unless they were the guards that kept watch over them." He scratched underneath his chin. "It's a whole big thing, and we want to make sure Brandon and Joel aren't to be leaving this company unless they're in a body bag." He smirked when he said that, and it earned a few laughs and chuckles. "They haven't bitten anyone in this company, so I'm sure they'll be fine. Any questions?"

Ray suddenly felt nauseous. He bit his lip, and his hand cautiously rubbed the bite mark recieved from Joel. Geoff and Gavin caught sight of the motion, along with Jack. Suddenly, Geoff opened his mouth to speak.

"They may not be as fine as we thought."

After an explanation to Burnie, Matt, and everyone else in the meeting, Ray's cheeks burned with embarrassement while his stomach churned nervously and uncertainly. Both Burnie and Matt looked over at the sheepish man with serious expressions.

"Where'd he bite you?" Was Matt's first question. "Is it easy to hide?"

Ray cast his eyes downwards before removing his hand and turning his head for the two to see. A few others caught sight of it and had sharp intakes of breath. Again, his face got a bit redder with complete embarrassement. Joel felt the same way.

"This may be a problem." Burnie admitted. "We can never know when these random checks for vampires will happen, so I don't know when or if we should make Ray go home at certain times, to hide the bite." His brow furrowed. "When did this happen?"

"A bit more than a week ago." Joel weakly answered. When the eyes shifted to him, he squirmed under them.

Matt sighed. "Okay. You all can leave now, we'll try to handle this." Were the words he used to let them all leave. Most of them immediately got up and left. Ray went to talk to Burnie.

"Burnie, don't take this out on Joel, please." Ray pleaded. "It wasn't his fault, I let him-"

"Ray," Burnie interrupted. "I get it. I would've done it for him too, to be honest. Just... just let me talk to him."

Ray nodded, and saw that Joel hadn't left either. Joel stared at him as the Puerto Rican was leaving the room before his attention was turned to Burnie and Matt.

"Calm down, Joel." Was what Ray heard before he left the room.

He entered the Achievement Hunter office last, since he had went to wash his face first, and met five pairs of eyes staring up at him. Ray only looked down and hastily went to his desk. Obviously, he wasn't in a good mood.

"Ray, don't worry about it." Gavin tried to make him feel better. "We'll figure this out-"

"Shut up, Gavin." Ray snapped without taking his eyes off his own screen. Gavin was about to say something else, but Ray's outburst dashed that possibility. The Brit stayed silent. 

The gents knew better than to try and calm Ray down. He'd do so by himself, in time. Ryan found himself glancing over at the Hispanic more times than usual, and the air in the room was thick with stress and awkwardness.

Ray knew he shouldn't be so snippy, but he was just so damn mad. Not at anyone in the room. Not even at Joel. He was mad at himself for getting him and Joel into this sketchy situation. At any moment, the government men could burst in and take the old vampire away. It was a bad thing to think of, but it was all that was on Ray's mind.

"I'm gonna go get some water." He said after thirty minutes went by of complete silence. His words seemed too loud. "Do, uh... any of you want anything?"

"No thanks." Was what most of them answered. Michael only shrugged. Ray sighed before excusing himself and leaving.

Immediately their office's energy came back.

"Is he okay?" Michael asked them. "He seemed like he was gonna fucking throw up or something."

"He's just upset." Ryan said. 

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "he must think he may have gotten Joel into serious trouble."

"J-Roll couldn't possibly leave, could he?" Gavin's tone was a bit scared. "I mean, Ray wanted him to...bite him..."

"Didn't you hear what Matt said?" Geoff turned to him. "They don't care if the humans wanted it or not, they're taking the vampires who've bit any humans."

"How will they know it was Joel?" Asked Michael. "I mean, they can't know for sure, can they?"

Jack shrugged. "DNA testing may be in order, that's what I heard from the news." 

Ray reentered the room, and the conversations stopped. He knew they were talking about him, however. He wasn't stupid. He just didn't know what to say to them. There was nothing TO say, since they knew the whole deal. They just had to sit and wait and hope the government doesn't stick their nose in their business.


	4. Expected Guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was inevitable that the government agents would come into their neck of the woods. Will they find anything... Interesting while visiting Roosterteeth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but suspenseful chapter. Stay tuned for more!  
> Comments welcome!  
> (tumblr: aam5ever)

It was the morning when it happened. Two days after the meeting, on that Thursday, was when the company was visited by the United States' protective agents.

When they were invited into the building, Matt tried to greet them with the most polite speech he could muster. "Hello, sirs. Welcome to Roosterteeth." He stuck out his hand for a handshake. The one in front, who was African American and looking quite friendly, spoke first.

"Hello. Matt, is it? Thank you for inviting us into your building." As if they had a choice. "I'm sorry to say this isn't a friendly meeting, though. We would like to check the vampires in your workplace, and the humans for bites." He smiled as he pulled and held out his badge. "I'm Agent Wyatt. I assume you have the list of people in your workplace?"

Matt nodded, trying not to give off the impression that yes, he was terrified of these men and what they would do to Joel if they found out.

Word reached Joel of the agents in the building shortly, and he felt faint, which was unusual for a vampire. He didn't want to be taken away. He didn't want all of this to happen just because he wanted a taste of Ray's sweet red blood. 

"Where are they?" He asked Adam, who sat next to him. "Do you know where they are?" 

Adam only shrugged. "Maybe with Matt?" He offered his worried friend an explanation. "Joel, we won't let you get taken away. We'll hide you on the roof if we have to."

Joel chuckled at that. "Sure." He knew they couldn't; his skin squirmed and burned easily under the sun.

Ray had been given word of the agents too. Gavin quickly draped his creeper scarf over the young man's shoulders upon hearing the news.

"Maybe this'll help." Gavin beamed at his friend, who weakly smiled back. He properly wrapped the scarf around his neck and the bite. He knew that it probably wouldn't work. Ray was dreading this day since the meeting. 

The day he'd make Joel be taken away. 

Joel and Brandon, the only vampires that were in the company, were told to sit in one of the rooms in the company building. An agent watched over them. He glared at them with disgust, as if breathing the same air as them was repulsive enough.

"Can I get some water?" Brandon asked like a school child. His fangs were showing as he spoke, which made the agent even more full of distrust. "My throat's pretty dry, and-"

"Don't you only drink blood?" The agent asked in turn. "What kind of necessity is water to an immortal?"

"It stops us from being dehydrated, like any other being in the universe." Brandon snapped.

"You won't die."

"It still hurts." Joel admitted. "Just fuckin'- may we please have water, Mister Agent whatever?" He was getting annoyed. This is why he wasn't so keen on the government and politics. Assholes. All assholes.

The agent rolled his eyes with a sigh. Since when were vampires so whiney? He left to get them water, telling the other agent that stood on the other side of their door to keep watch. Joel shot Brandon a look, and they both smiled, then laughed at the situation. They had to keep it lighthearted somehow.

"Hello, is this the Achievement Hunter office?" One of the agents opened the door as they were all editing to pass the time. They all were logical enough not to record with the presence of the government's men in the building. 

Geoff got up from his chair to greet the agent. "I'm Geoff. Nice to meet you."

"Agent Oliver, and likewise." The agent politely greeted the tattooed man with and smile. He let go of his hand, then clasped his own behind his back. "We'll just be checking for any bite marks or anything of that nature on you guys. Am I disturbing anything?"

They all shook their heads.

"Good. Geoff, it only makes sense that you're first."

They all went with the man one at a time, in order from Geoff and down the line. Ray felt his heartbeat speed up, faster and faster, and struggled to calm himself down. He tried his best to breath evenly, to drink from his water bottle, to do anything to settle his nerves. No matter what he tried, nothing worked.

When it was his turn, he was startled to hear his name said by Agent Oliver. "Ray Narvaez Jr." He pronounced his last name wrong.

Getting up, the Puerto Rican followed him out the room. He saw Michael and even Jack shoot him worried looks, and he sent scared ones back to them before exiting.

"I assure you, this'll be quick." Agent Oliver told him. They were in another room in the building, which was pretty vacant except for a table and a fan in the corner. "Just a few questions, a quick assessment of your arms, neck, and any other possible areas that could've been bitten, and you're finished." He had a clipboard in his hand. "How long have you been working with the two vampires?" 

"Over two years." Ray estimated. "So that's cool." His nerves we're still all over the place. He folded his arms, then unfolded them. He scratched behind his head, scratched under his chin, and he just couldn't stop moving.

The agent caught his movements as he wrote down what he said. "No need to be nervous, Mr. Narvaez." He pronounced it wrong again. "Now, have you ever been nervous around the two vampires?"

"You can just call me Ray, and I haven't." He honestly admitted. The two were always cool. Sure, they had their vampire-ish moments, like yawning wide enough to show their wicked sharp fangs or having sunglasses and hoodies on even when it was only cloudy, but still, it never bothered Ray. He actually found it amusing and interesting to an extent.

The agent recorded that as well. "Have any of them had any activity such as threatening to or actually biting anyone?"

Ray shook his head. He felt bad for lying, and worse for knowing that the agent will find out the truth in a few short moments. Agent Oliver recorded that last answer before placing clip board on the table next to him. He then rolled up the sleeves of his suit and put on gloves that were on the same table that Ray had been eyeing.

"Roll up your sleeves, please." He politely ordered. The Puerto Rican complied, rolling up the sleeves of his baseball tee. The agent took hold of one of his arms, examining his wrist, then the crook of his elbow. He did the same with the other. 

Ray bit his lip. He knew that soon, the scarf had to come off.

Right on cue, Agent Oliver said the words he dreaded hearing: "May I examine your neck?"

"Uh... yeah." Ray felt his hands beginning to shake as he reached up to remove the green scarf.

As soon as it was off, the young man saw the agent's facial expression become grim. 

"We'll need to ask you a few more... questions, Ray."


	5. Minus One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a very tense morning. The decision that followed Ray's bite being found out, though, only made it worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, another very quick update! Someone please drag me away from the post button.  
> So yeah, this is a very emotional chapter.  
> I promise it gets worse.  
> :D  
> Comments welcome!  
> (tumblr: aam5ever)

It took thirty more minutes of questioning for Ray to start yelling. Thirty more minutes of repetitive, tedious questions that just drawled on and on between him, Agent Oliver, and Agent Wyatt. 

The agents had insisted on getting chairs and discussing this 'issue' with the vampire bite. They got the DNA from the bite (as Jack predicted) and it was currently being tested while Ray's volume increased as he answered the God damn questions. He tried his best not to use Joel's name. Ray instead used the loose term of 'vampire', trying his best to not slip up.

"Again, are you sure you weren't influenced by the vampire that bit you in any threatening manner?" Was the repeated question that drove Ray off the edge.

"Listen, I fuckin' told you already!" Ray began to yell. "Joel didn't threaten me! I let him do it! It was my choice!" He banged the table with a closed fist. "What can you not understand?"

A few beats of silence passed by. Then, Agent Wyatt leaned forward, still composed, even under the Puerto Rican's glare. "Mr. Narvaez, I believe you said the name Joel."

For a few seconds, Ray's face stayed in a glare. Then, it softened into a worried realization. "No, I didn't." He tried to weakly cover up.

It was too late. "We'll be taking our leave now, Mr. Narvaez." Both the agents got up from their seats. "You may want to go to a doctor, get that bite tested. We'll be sure to... inform Joel of what is to happen." They began to exit the room.

Ray scrambled out of his chair. "Hey, hey, no, wait!" He grabbed onto Agent Oliver's suit jacket. "Please, you can't do this! He didn't want to hurt me, I promise!"

"It's the government's orders, Ray." The agent tried to calm him down. "Settle down. Go back and work, we're still doing tests on the rest."

"No, no!" He shouted and pulled on the man's jacket even harder, even trying to pull him back, away from the door. "Don't take him away from us, he didn't do anything wrong!"

"Mr. Narvaez!" Agent Wyatt helped Agent Oliver get away from the hysterical man. "Control yourself, or else we'll have to restrain you!"

Ray backed off, still angry and confused and guilty and the emotions were just MURDERING him from the inside out. The agents left him in the room.

Meanwhile, in the Achievement Hunter office, Michael was being called to get checked for vampire bites. "Wait, where's Ray?" He asked Agent Oliver, who was still fixing his suit jacket.

"He had some... um... behavioral problems." He said as if he was regarding a child. "Don't worry, Ray'll be back in a little while."

"But-"

"Mr. Jones, for the sake of making this run smoothly, please let me do my job." The agent tried to work out with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I'll answer all your questions during your assessment."

Ryan saw a bit of anger flash in the younger man's eyes before he got up and pushed his chair in rather roughly, following the agent.

When all the assessments and questions were done, everyone didn't bother to be nonchalant about figuring out the agents' verdict on the vampires. Everyone stood in front of the agents shortly, wondering what was to become of their vampire friends. Brandon and Joel stood awkwardly off to the side, an agent between them and their friends. 

"Thank you for most of your cooperation, all of you." Agent Wyatt smiled at them all. Ray stood in the back, behind Adam and Barbara, not wanting to be seen by the men. Surely they'd single him out, or make him stay away.

"It was no problem." Burnie tried to smile as genuinely as he could. "I hope what you found wasn't too troublesome."

When that was said, the head agent bit his lip. "Yes, well... how do I put this..." The mood immediately changed from ready to give polite farewells to waiting to hear the bad news. "Brandon is cleared. He has no record of bites or hostility, so he isn't a threat."

"Didn't have to tell me twice." Someone murmured. Brandon went over to the rest of them, and smiled his full, pointy-toothed smile.

"However, on the case of Joel Heyman..." Ray felt him stomach churn at the mention of him. "He has been reported... active in threatening activity."

"What?" Matt feigned innocence. "How?"

"A bite was found on one of your workers, the source being from Mr. Heyman." Agent Wyatt's expression was grim. "He'll need to come with us."

Joel's face fell, but he understood. Of course he had to pay for his actions. Well, an immortal life of solitude may not be his preferred payback, but he couldn't do much about it without seeming like another hostile vampire, now could he?

Everyone there wore sad faces. Joel went to the other agents, and they situated themselves around him like one would to a prisoner.

"I apologize for the bluntness of this situation." Agent Wyatt said to them all. "But it's only us following orders. We apologize." He turned, and began to lead the agents and Joel out of the building.

"Bye, guys..." Joel craned his neck to look at them all one last time, and flashed them a smirk, showing off one of his fangs. He was really going to miss them. 

When Joel turned to look forward again, he was almost out the door. Ray knew this was all his fault. He caused this. He let Joel feed off of him, he exposed the bite in a video, he ratted out his friend...

Before the man knew what he was doing, Ray was shoving people out of the way, stumbling and running towards the door. People shouted his name, shouted at him to stop, but he wouldn't. Bursting through the front door, Ray ran to one of the agents and tried to pull him away from his friend.

"Joel!" He shouted, managing to actually cause the agent he had a hold of to stumble and fall. Joel turned around in time to see Ray be tackled by a different agent, along with Geoff and Burnie coming out of the building to get him. The Puerto Rican screeched his name again, and it made the vampire feel what he could only categorize as his chest hurting. The older man's heart, if it was still beating, would've skipped a beat or two. 

"Ray, that's enough!" He heard Burnie shout with seriousness laced into the sharp words. He took hold of Ray's arm, and Geoff the other, and they restrained him from running off to try and get Joel again. It was just no use.

The younger man just wasn't having it. "Joel!" He yelled again. Joel only glanced back before continuing to follow the agents into the vehicle they came in. He entered it, and they closed the door, driving off as Ray's shout echoed in the wind and Joel's mind.


	6. Overwhelmed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the agents left with one of the company's lovable vampires, Ray becomes engulfed in guilt. Ryan and Gavin try to snap him out of it, and Ray suddenly has a new, crazy idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An aftermath of the last chapter. It's more Ray-centric at the moment, but I'll be sure to shift the focuses at times. Stay tuned for more!  
> Comments welcome!  
> (tumblr: aam5ever)  
> (Ask me questions on my tumblr! I don't mind!)

It was just too much. Just too much for him to bear. He was gone from all of their lives forever. Their stuttering, tall, flustered vampire was gone from all of their lives, and it was all his fault. How could he live with the guilt? The crippling guilt that was enough to stop a man from working, from speaking, from paying attention to anything else but his deed. His terrible deed that cost them all an important person: a special friend.

That was all that went through Ray's head. He refused to talk to anyone the day after the day that Joel was taken away. It was after noon now, and the Achievement Hunters tried their best not to include the man in anything that needed to be recorded, giving him as little work as they could. 

The Puerto Rican didn't care. He didn't care about anything except for what a stupid idiot he was. A stupid, dumb, moronic, idiotic-

"Ray." Geoff's voice broke through his thoughts. "You've been crushing your empty water bottle for minutes now." The older man was right. The empty bottle was now crinkled and crushed under Ray's death-like grip. He let go of it, shocked that he was even doing that without knowing. Geoff and Jack were in the office with him at the moment. Geoff sat down in Michael's usual chair while Jack just turned.

"Ray, you have to speak." The ginger told him. "You can't just keep everything you have to say to yourself."

The younger man said nothing.

"You're worrying us." Geoff sighed as he admitted it. "Everyone in the company is worried about you. You've been stone faced and silent since yesterday afternoon."

Again, nothing was said.

"God damn it, Ray," Jack sounded annoyed. "Stop looking at us like you're mute! You know how to speak, tell us how you feel. It should help you feel better."

"It won't." Ray's voice croaked a little from being unused for a while.

Geoff's eyes lit up at him speaking. "It will, just let your emotions do the talking. Michael does it all the fucking time on Rage Quit."

"It's not the same."

"Than what is it the same as?" 

"Nothing." With that, Ray turned back to his monitor, continuing to edit the little amount that Geoff had assigned him earlier.

"Let it go for now, Geoff." Jack sounded tired. Geoff nodded before getting up and going back over to his desk.

A few minutes passed before Ray suddenly put his head in his hands. "It's all my fault." He said to nobody in particular. The two in the room heard him, but said nothing back, knowing that doing so wouldn't encourage him to say any more.

After a few seconds of silence, he excused himself. Gavin passed him as he left the room, and stared after him before looking back into the room. "How is he?"

"He's full of guilt." Geoff told him. "He just said it was his fault."

"But, that's not true!"

"We know that, of course." Jack emphasized how obvious that was. "He doesn't."

"Well, what do we do?" The Brit was concerned. He wasn't the most helpful person sometimes (usually because he didn't want to be) but this was his friend, for God sakes! Gavin couldn't just sit and watch Ray waste away and become depressed.

"I don't know what to do, Gav." Geoff scratched behind his neck with a sigh. "Wait for him to-"

"We can't wait for him to feel better." Gavin suddenly said. "What if he get's worse? What if he never gets better?"

That thought settled in for a bit before Jack spoke up.

"He's right."

Later that day, when all of them were in the room, Michael, Jack, Geoff, and Ryan were recording a Diablo Let's Play. They were really into it when all of a sudden, Ray put his head down. He was, in all honesty, emotionally drained from both holding back aggression and tears. Gavin and Michael looked over, but Michael had to focus on the game. He continued to play and commentate, throwing glances over to the Puerto Rican.

Gavin was editing, doing nothing special, so he could afford to talk to the man. He put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Ray..." The British man kept his voice low. "Ray, do you want to talk about it?" He shook his shoulder.

Ray couldn't be bothered with him. He was too busy trying to hold back tears from his friends. He should've stayed home. He should've left work. He should've saved Joel.

"Ray, please..." Gavin's pleading was overheard by Ryan, who looked up. The man moping wasn't going to get better by himself at all. Ryan knew that, so he excused himself from the Let's Play they were currently in the middle of filming.

"Where's Ryan going?" Jack tried to keep the Let's Play steady.

"Probably off sucking dicks in the bathroom." Geoff commented. Michael chuckled at that.

Ryan, still in the room, rolled his eyes before going over to Gavin and Ray. He lowered head, and whispered to Ray: "We need to talk."

Hearing him shot Ray's head up. He wasn't expecting Ryan to come over, so it startled him. Gavin took that as a response, and took Ray's arm, getting him out of/dragging him out of his chair. "Come on, X-Ray."

They (Ryan and Gavin) decided to take the sad man into the same room Agent Oliver had brought him in. The memory of being found out, the interrogation about Joel... it all happened there, and Ray did NOT want to be there.

"Ray, you need to snap out of it." Ryan calmly, carefully said. "We know it's a bad thing that happened. Believe me, we're upset too. But none of this was your fault."

"It was ALL my fault." Ray mumbled in response. He absent-mindedly rubbed the bite on his neck, and Ryan caught the gesture with a watchful eye. Still, he said nothing of it.

Gavin shook his head. "No way! The bloody government's the arsehole that wanted to take away vampires in the first bloody place!" 

"I understand why..." Ray said. "Vampires can be hostile. They're taking precaution. It isn't their fault for trying to protect humans."

Ryan nodded. "Even though I agree with that, I don't agree that you were the one who got Joel into trouble."

"Than who could've?" Ray glared at Ryan. "Everything happens for a damn reason." He sighed, dangerously close to shedding tears, like he has been all day. "Because I let him bite me, he got in trouble. It was an urge he couldn't help, but I never had to give into it."

"Maybe he should've tried harder..." Ryan mumbled to himself. Ray heard it, his eyes showing how much that offended him.

"How about you try holding back a hunger that you have to try to hide everyday, just to be fucking normal!?" Ray snapped at the older man. Gavin and Ryan stared at him with wide eyes, shocked at his temper and outburst.

First, a tear rolled down his cheek, then another, then more cascaded down the Puerto Rican's face. He was done hiding them, since everyone happened to know how fucking upset he was. Why keep it away any longer? They wanted to know how he was, he might as well show them; he was livid.

Gavin saw his fists clenched, his jaw locked, his glare electric. "Ray, calm down, please..." He tried to put a hand on his arm, but the man smacked it away.

"How can you tell me to be God damn calm when vampires are being taken away just because a shitty friend tried to help?" He was yelling at them. He hardly yelled. It was pretty uncharacterically intimidating. Ray sniffed and wiped some hot tears off his face.

"Ray, you're blaming something on yourself that was only because of timing." Ryan was being cool and reasonable. "It was just the wrong thing to happen at the wrong time, political-wise."

"Well, when is the 'right timing' to get him back?" Ray's voice cracked. Silence plagued the room before Gavin's shaky voice was apparent.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I'm getting him back." Ray's voice was steadier, and lower. 

"...do you realize what you're saying?" Ryan cautiously said. Surely Ray was just saying this because he was upset. "That means passing by the government undetected, smuggling Joel out of whatever 'neighborhood' he's in, and getting him back here with no suspicion."

"I don't care." Ray spat. "I'm bringing him back here, because I got him caught." He seemed determined. "Alone or not."

"Holy crap, you're serious?" Gavin's brow furrowed. "Ray, you can't-"

"I can try." 

"Ray you're not being reasonable-"

"I don't have to be reasonable to save him."

"What if he doesn't need saving?" Gavin said. They all looked at him. "What if he likes it better there? Sure, we miss him, but he always had to act damn different around us. He didn't eat lunch around us for the freaking sake of our stomachs, tried his best not to seem like he looked at us like food, all that bloody business!" The Brit sighed. "What if over there, he doesn't want to ever come back?"

Ray stood there in disbelief. Could Joel ever grow accustomed to the life the government'll force him into? "...then I'm going to at least apologize." And with that, he pushed past Gavin and Ryan.

Ryan looked at Gavin. "I really hope he doesn't go through with this."

"Me too. Plus, he can't even drive."


	7. The New 'Home'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joel didn't like the neighborhood.  
> He didn't like not seeing Ray and his friends even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but to the point chapter. You'll see more Joel POV's in the future, I promise!  
> Comments welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

Joel didn't like the neighborhood.

It was hardly an excuse for a neighborhood.

The government had lied if it ever mentioned that where the vampires would be staying was a NICE place; Joel could simply see how broken down and in bad condition everything was. Old houses with cracked windows and creaking wood, yards with yellow grass or none at all, roofs ready to collapse... how could anyone live in such an area? It seemed even worse than the slums. It was like it was abandoned for decades until now.

The vampire only saw one good looking building. It was a sterile one, white on the outside of it, and had almost no windows. Standing away from the rest of the neighborhood, It was that building that Joel entered with the agents to verify him and educate him about his new living quarters.

All he could think about was how easily he could outlive all of these assholes.

"Welcome, Joel Heyman." A woman in an astonishingly blue pantsuit greeted him. Her fair skin, blonde hair, and pink lips would've made Joel think of her as pretty, if she hadn't been basically the warden of this prison called his neighborhood. "You'll be now living under my, and all of our, care." She smiled, her teeth as white as the room. "Shall we get started?"

Joel and the agents followed her, and the vampire soon found out her name was Fran Morgan. "Ms. Morgan is what I prefer to be called." She informed them.

Ms. Morgan gave him all the details about how he was to live, and what would happen daily or weekly. Apparently, each vampire is assigned a house to live in. Guards came to your quarters once a week and supplied you with enough 'food' for the week, so you were to ration it and not indulge yourself too much. You could ask for one extra thing each week when the guards came, and it might happen that said extra thing may be obtainable. It was a 'friendly' environment, the vampires supposedly living in peace, with no complaints so far. The program of The Neighborhood was new, so Joel was only house #31. 

"Any questions?" Ms. Morgan had led them to a viewing room. Joel saw the expanse of the neighborhood, and could not see why she thought of the place so friendly. It looked ragged to him. He could even see the tall wall on the far side that seperated the vampires from the humans, the ones that lived not too far away. Joel knew they were in a pretty secluded area, but not too secluded as to it being states away. Miles away, sure.

"Um- can I... can I even CALL my friends?" Joel asked. 

Ms. Morgan chuckled a little. "Like I said before, no contact with the outside world. Even calling them is off limits." She spoke to him as if he was a moron.

"Oh." His face fell in disappointment. No more Burnie... no more Geoff... no more Ray...

His mind wandered to Ray. Was he okay? What was he doing? The old vampire hoped he was okay. It wasn't that long since he left, but Joel couldn't help but hope that Ray wasn't too upset. It was Joel's fault for asking to drink from Ray, anyways. Even though it felt so good to be close to him... felt so damn right to have his breath on his neck... wait, the fuck?

"Mr. Heyman!" Ms. Morgan snapped. Joel looked back at her.

"H-huh?"

"As I was saying," She continued to talk about the behavior that was expected. "Any hostility against another vampire is a revoke of privilege, whatever we choose. Any hostility against a guard is a house lockdown, you not being able to leave it, along with a privilege revoke."

Fran Morgan eventually led him out of the room. She gave a few tips before saying one last thing.

"Oh, and try to stay away from house #2. It's where our more... mentally unstable vampire lives. Her name is Sally Perez, also known as the Vampire Witch."

Well, that was weird.

Joel now stood in house #31 alone. It was a little better than the other houses, with it's roof having no holes and sink being able to run. However, as he tested out more things in the house, Joel found three flaws so far: his shower had only ice cold water, his one TV only had Spanish channels, and he had rats.

The cold water he could deal with. The TV thing SORT of bothered him. But the rats, oh the RATS was going to be a problem. He hated rats with a burning passion. Just seeing one was enough to piss him off. 

How was he going to survive in this house?

Joel really did not like the neighborhood.


	8. A New Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys talk about Ray's idea and how it may or may not be the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter (there will be a few more of these short ones) but only because it's leading up to a pretty big part of the story!   
> Comments welcome!  
> (tumblr: aam5ever)  
> Hey, I have an idea! Send me questions and ideas for this story, and I'll answer, maybe even take some ideas into consideration!

It was still Friday, and Ryan and Gavin had told the rest of what Ray had planned to do before they all left that evening for home. They all had the same type of reaction.

"What the fuck? No way!"

Ray had left earlier with a friend, so it was only those five in the office. They all began to talk about their emotionally unstable friend.

"We have to talk him out of it." Jack said. "He's just hurting himself more and more every time he says stuff like that."

"Yeah, it'll be fucking impossible to get to Joel's neighborhood!" Michael threw his hands up. "I mean, it's like he's begging to go to jail!"

Ryan shrugged. "I don't know what to do. Ray seemed way too determined. I think he isn't kidding around."

"Well, he better be!" Geoff piped up. "No way is he just going to waltz out of here, find a neighborhood, knock on it's door, and say 'Hey, I'm here for Joel Heyman'!" The tattooed man folded his arms. "What the fuck is wrong with him?"

"It's like he doesn't even know that we miss Joel too..." Gavin quietly said. 

Michael nodded, actually agreeing with him. "Believe me, I'd be willing to break in and get Joel back as fast as I God damn could. But I at least fucking understand the outcome or consequences of it."

Jack sighed. "Maybe Ray was closer to Joel than we thought." They all looked at him, waiting for further explanation. "I mean, this is something I'd do for Caiti more than for a friend."

"But he feels guilty." Geoff commented. "Wouldn't he do this more because he feels guilty?"

"I think a normal person would mope around more." Said Ryan. He began walking over to his desk to pack stuff up. "Maybe there's more to it than we thought."

And with that, the conversation ended.

Waking up that Saturday was something Ray did not want to do. He had to, but he didn't want to. Couldn't he just stay in bed forever? It's warm and nice and there were no fucking reminders of how much he fucked up all around him.

The Hispanic man sat up, much to his own disliking, and rubbed some sleep out of his eyes before putting on his glasses. He then looked over at his phone. Two voicemails and a text was what lit up the screen. The text was from Tina, telling him to calm down and get some rest. He had texted her the night before about the situation, and sort of conveyed how upset he was over text. She wasn't able to come and comfort him at the time, but seeing that she cared enough to text him about getting rest made Ray smile slightly.

The first voicemail was from Burnie, telling him he could request a day or two break next week. The older man knew how upset he was. Hell, he had to restrain the Hispanic from maiming the agents that came to take Joel. Ray deleted the voicemail with a sigh. He knew that focusing at work was hard for him yesterday. How long will it be that way?

The second was from... Gavin? That was weird, since the guy never was one for calling.

"Can I come over?" Was the first thing Ray heard from the voicemail. "Michael and I want to talk to you." And then it ended. The Puerto Rican looked at the time the voicemail was sent. It was past 11am at the moment, and it was sent at 9 on the dot. Why was Gavin even up that early? 

And then, his doorbell rang. 

Ray got up slowly and stretched his muscles. He yawned before going to answer the door to his apartment.

When he opened it, what he didn't expect was Gavin and Michael. At least, not this early.


	9. A Lad's Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray's rescue mission may come to fruition after all...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These short chapters :(  
> They're mainly to get a point across. I'll make up for it, though!   
> Comments Welcome!  
> (tumblr: aam5ever)

"Ray, you know that Joel's not going to be easy to smuggle out from under the government's nose." Michael immediately got to the point as they sat in the younger man's living room. "They're God damn dogs, they'll catch you instantly."

"Huh?" Ray was still a bit out of it. When he finally realized what they were talking about, and frowned. "Oh."

"You- you were serious about what you said yesterday, right?" Gavin questioned. He had no idea what his friend was thinking.

Ray shrugged. In all honesty, he really said all of that out of anger and frustration yesterday. "I might be." He played it cool. Ray hadn't actually thought it over, with him being too upset to think straight the day before. Now that the cloud in his mind had cleared ever so slightly, the Hispanic began to think of the consequences that Michael began to list.

He could go to jail. He could be taken away too. Joel could get in trouble AGAIN. Joel could even WANT to stay in the neighborhood. The list went on and on. Still, throughout all of this, Ray still couldn't help but feel obligated to try and get to Joel. Something in the back of his mind just kept saying that he could do it, that he could and should get him back. What this thing is was still a mystery to Ray at the moment.

After lengthy minutes of Gavin and Michael trying to reason with Ray, all the younger man did was shrug again. "I'm still gonna try."

Michael groaned loudly. "Ray, stop being a prick. He's in that damn neighborhood or whatever, and surrounded by people that want to keep him there!" His raised voice didn't surprise Ray. He'd be annoyed at himself too. "What makes you think one guy is gonna break through that fuckin' defense?"

Ray smirked. "You're right. I could use a little help." He leaned forward. "I say we all fucking go. Team Lads rescue mission style."

The other two stared at him for moments, and then Gavin's goofy grin surfaced as he turned to his friend. "Let's do it, Michael."

"What?!" The red head shouted in disbelief. "Are you fucking serious right now?" His slight Jersey accent was coming out, and Gavin giggled at it. "You're kidding me!"

"But Michael..."

"Don't 'but Micoo' me!" Michael shook his head. "You guys are insane."

"But are you joining us?" Ray asked. "Or is it X-Ray and Vav only?"

Michael grumbled for a few minutes before rolling his eyes. "Fucking- whatever, fine."

"This is gonna be top, Michael!" Gavin shook his friend that sat next to him, who shrugged him off in annoyance. "Team Lads Rescue Mission!"

Ray chuckled, pretty surprised he had gotten them to agree at all.

And also pretty surprised about how willing he himself was to go through with this shit.

Upon this decision, a few new questions came into play.

"Where is he?"

"How long will we be gone?"

"Should we tell Geoff?"

These were questions that required thinking and research, both things that Ray needed to do much more of if they were to go through with this. 

"I don't know about telling Geoff..." Ray bit his lip, unsure about his boss' reaction. "I'll try to find out where Joel could be, and then we'll realize how long we'll be gone from there."

"I wanna help!" Gavin told him. "When do we start searching?"

Ray thought about it, then realized this needed to be done as soon as possible. "Right now."


	10. Meeting the Neighbors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joel decides to get out of his house and mingle with the neighbors.  
> Maybe that was a bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, another Joel chapter! I love writing these! Hope you like them too!  
> Comments Welcome!  
> tumblr: aam5ever

It was Saturday afternoon, and Joel still hadn't left his house. He didn't feel the need to leave his house, anyways. Whatever 'lovely' neighborhood that was in store for him when he set foot outside the door could wait.

It's not like it was ever going anywhere.

The old vampire did not have a good night's sleep. It was full of tossing and turning from discomfort in that retched bed and dreams that quickly turned into nightmares. The nightmares were full of darkness, something his eyes would usually easily adjust and see through. He couldn't see anything this time, though. The eerie darkness irked him in the dream. Therefore, when he heard the screams of people both familiar and unfamiliar, it drove him insane that he could never see where they were coming from. 

A very familiar shout of his name from Ray in the nightmare was what woke him up. 

Joel decided that afternoon, after an hour or so of try to understand the Spanish Channel on his tiny, old TV, that maybe walking around and surveying the area around him didn't sound too bad. He got up, manually turned the TV off from the picture box itself, and sighed. The house creaked, and Joel spotted something scurry into a hole in the wall to his right.

Oh, he needed to get out of that house right fucking now.

Exiting house #31, the old vampire was at least thankful for the few changes of clothes they gave him when they basically shoved them into his house. The hoodie he wore was slightly torn in some places, had a weird stain, but kept the sun out of his face, which was all he cared about. His dark jeans were faded and had a grass stain here and there. He wore his own shoes. 

What he wished they hadn't taken away were his sunglasses. They thought it to be one of the things from the outside you couldn't bring within the neighborhood walls. What were dollar store sunglasses gonna fucking do, kill a guy?

The first thing Joel realized about the neighborhood was how God damn bleak and dreary it was. The vampires walking around looked tired and sad, and their clothes hung on them the same way. A little vampire boy wore a blank expression as he played with the one toy they let him have.

Joel couldn't help but wonder if they took him away from his family. 

Before the man knew it, he was walking over to the boy. He kneeled down and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, kid." The boy wore a similar hoodie to protect himself from the sun, and looked no more than 10 years old.

"Huh?" His voice was scared, and Joel could see the uncertainty in his eyes. "Who are you?"

Joel hesitated before saying what he said next. "Joel Heyman. From Roosterteeth."

"Roosterteeth?" His facial features softened. "I-I think my sister watched R-Roosterteeth."

"Cool." The vampire smiled. His smile made the littler vampire shrink back slightly, so he stopped. "So, um, how- uh..." He didn't know how to form his next sentence correctly. "Where's your family?"

The little boy looked away. "Not here."

"What?" Joel was puzzled. "Why?"

"They aren't bad, so they don't come to the bad place." He sounded like he was about to cry.

"Bad place?" The older vampire had confusion in his voice. Was this little boy alone? "What house do you stay in?"

"This one." He pointed to the one he was in front of. Joel had only assumed it was just some random yard. The plate on the door read '#28'.

"So, you're f- you're alone?" He censored himself. The man was concerned for the boy. 

The little vampire shook his head. Joel himself knew that vampires had a tendency to have very veiny skin. He himself didn't have it, but this boy most certainly did. "No, I'm staying with a woman named Penny." He looked off to the side nervously. "She isn't very nice."

"Would you like to come over to my place for a while?" He didn't know what came over him; he just felt obligated to take care of the boy.

The little boy shook his head. "I'm not allowed to go with strangers."

Joel understood his reasoning. He wouldn't let his own son go with strangers either, if he had a son. "Could you at least tell me your name?"

"...W-Walter." He told him. Joel stuck out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Walter." He put on a goofy voice for amusement. 

Walter smiled at his voice, then shook his hand. Then, a shrill voice called his name. It spooked both Joel and Walter, and Joel saw Walter's smile disappear. 

"I have to go." And then he disappeared into house #28.

Joel stood up, unsure of why he decided to befriend a little boy of all people. He decided not to think about it too much, and stuck his hands in his pockets before continuing to walk down the cracked sidewalk of 'his street'.

The next person he met wasn't as friendly as Walter.

"Hey!" A manly voice called. "You!" Joel continued to walk, not knowing that whoever it was was calling to him in particular. He'd heard lots of things shouted at people or rats or themselves, so he began to tune them out.

Suddenly, his shoulder was grabbed, and someone spun him around in a full 180. Joel stumbled to regain his balance, and saw a lanky man in front of him glaring at him like he was responsible for poverty. 

"W-what?" Joel had no idea what this man wanted. He saw the man's tattoo, coming from somewhere under his long sleeve shirt, resting just below his chin. 

"You're new here, right?" He had a Spanish accent. "You're in house #30 or whatever?"

Joel's eyebrows furrowed. "Uh- I- I'm new." He took a step back, just in case this guy wanted to start trouble. "Can I... help you?"

"Fuckin' right you can help me." Jeez, language. "Everyone that's new got some food to start off with." That was true. Blood packs and a few small bottles of the stuff we're currently in Joel's fridge. "Fresh blood, tasty and nice." He scratched at a spot on his arm, under his long sleeves. "You should help a brother out, let him get some, you know?" He clapped his hands together and rubbed them.

Joel blinked, unsure of how to respond to that. "B-But don't you have your own?"

"Nah, man." The man shook his head and jerked his thumb towards the white building a bit of a ways behind him. "Those pricks only give you the good stuff when you're new. Then you gotta ration that shit." 

"Well, thanks for the um... offer?" Joel began to back away. "But I rather not." 

The man stepped forward. "C'mon, man. Where's the love?"

"I rather not commit at the moment..."

"You're weak, man." He seemed pissed. "Soon, you'll be wishing you gave some of that blood to me. Me and the boys'll fuck you up next time you say no to us."

"Uh..." Joel laughed nervously. "It was nice meeting you."

"Jerk off."

"Well, that's nice." And then Joel continued on his not-so-merry way.

Joel shook his head. "Nice neighborhood, my ass."


	11. The Journey North

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lads finally begin their journey north...  
> And immediately detour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters a bit of an idea of how other people may view vampires. Hope you enjoy!  
> Comments Welcome!  
> (tumblr: aam5ever)

It was Sunday now. After yesterday's long research session, the Lads finally managed to find some leads.

Joel could be in the Neighborhood a few hours north or a day west. 

The one a few hours north seemed the one most reasonable, so they decided to try there. It would take them less than a day to get there, but what to do after that was something lost to them. They estimated it could take them a day or more alone to try and get into the place. Maybe another day to get Joel out.

And maybe a few minutes to get caught.

"This is fucking dumb." Michael grumbled to himself the night before.

Ray overheard him. "It'll work out." He smirked. "Nothing too bad, right?" Since when was he so confident? 

"Ray..." Gavin was beginning to think of what Ryan said. Was there something more to it than Ray just helping out a friend? "Why do you want to do this so badly?"

Ray looked at him like it was obvious, which it was to him. "To get him back for all of us." He put down his phone that he was checking on his coffee table. "He was taken away for a bad reason."

"We fucking know that," Michael knew what Gavin was getting at. "But like... is there a reason that YOU want to do it so badly?" He was trying to dance around a very blunt question of if he and Joel were... having relations in any way.

Ray shrugged. He did know what they were getting at, but acting dumb was the easier solution. He didn't know how to respond anyways. "I don't know, I feel guilty. I owe it to Joel. I got him in that place, I'll get him out."

Gavin only sighed, then gave him a weak smile. "Alright, X-Ray."

So now it was Sunday, the afternoon that they'd actually planned to leave. When Ray got into the car, Gavin insisted they make a stop before driving to the Neighborhood to at least get a look at it. 

They arrived at Party City shortly.

"Gavin, what the fuck-"

"No, no, hear me out!" Gavin pleaded in the parking lot as they got out of Michael's car. "We pretend to be vampires and sneak in, so we need fake teeth. Then we'll make fake bite marks-" He glanced at Ray's real mark. "Well, most of us, and it'll be absolutely top!"

"Do you hear what you're saying right now?" Michael ran a hand through his curly locks. "You're saying to trick military specialists into thinking we're vampires with fake God damn children's costume parts!"

"It'll look real enough with the right amount of make up..." Gavin defended himself. "We're already here, so stop being a damn Jersey bastard and go with it!" 

Ray rolled his eyes when Michael ran after Gavin as they were still crossing the parking lot. Maybe they did need the children's costumes. It surely matched their personalities.

Since Halloween was close, looking for vampire teeth in Party City was pretty hard. They searched up and down the aisles for them. Workers shot them weird looks, and most of the looks lingered on Ray, before they continued to work the store. The man caught a few, but at the time, he didn't know why they were staring at him so weirdly.

Finally finding three (surprisingly real looking) vampire teeth sets, they went to check them out and pay. Gavin insisted on paying since he made them come to the place, and they absolutely agreed with him. When they reached the front, Gavin pulled out the appropriate amount of money and was handing it out over to the lady behind the counter.

"How did you find everything today, sir?" She had a Sourthern accent as she spoke.

"Everything was bloody top, thank you very much."

She shot him a puzzled look before Michael spoke up.

"Suck a British prick..."

The lady giggled at that, and then went along checking things out. She glanced up at Ray, who's neck was turned enough for her to spot the bite.

"I see you're jumpin' the gun there with the vampire theme yall have planned." She smiles innocently.

Ray's face displayed confusion before he realized what she meant. He shook his head. "No, it- uh, it's real."

Her eyes widened. "Really? Wow, I am so sorry." She cast her eyes back at the items she was bagging. "That must've been terrible. God damn vampires, I can't stand them." The British man caught his Hispanic friend cringe. Uh oh.

The lady continued. "I'm glad these Neighborhoods came around." Ray bit his lip to avoid letting out what would've sounded like a growl of annoyance. "They'll put those vampires in their place, away from us-"

"Thank you, miss." Gavin tried to cut her off. Michael was already calling Ray's name as he hastily said he was going to just wait outside before storming off. The Brit quickly paid and left the lady behind the counter troubled and confused. Had she said something wrong?

He found Michael and Ray leaning against the outside wall of Party City, Ray looking away and Michael talking to him in a low voice.

"Calm the fuck down, dude. It's just one person, she doesn't know any better."

Ray sighed. "It's funny, if she had even known I had willingly let a vampire drink from me, she wouldn't look at me like I was some poor soul." He pushed off from the wall. "Nah, she'd probably think I was insane or some sort of fucking Satan worshipper."

"That's just how people are." Was Michael's nonchalant response. He was right. People were always so quick to change their views on people. 

"Let's go." Gavin said out of nowhere. They complied without complaint. They complied wordlessly, actually.

The first half hour of the drive was quiet, with the low hum of pop music being the only noise. Ray sat in the passenger seat now, Gavin in the back, and Michael driving of course. Eventually, Gavin couldn't stand the lack of noise, and began to sing along with the radio. 

A few minutes, they were all into it, singing with whatever came on, even trying to keep up with the raps. The Lads all began to chuckle and laugh at their foolishness, the tenseness diminishing and disappearing.

Ray leaned his head against the window, thinking about random things, until his focus ended up on Joel and the question Gavin asked earlier. What was the reason for him wanting to do this? To want to put himself in serious danger just to try and bust his friend out of what might be a perfectly good place? 

This was some romance movie bullshit.

His mind stuck to that word. Romance... was that what it was? Ray had been thinking of the vampire with more admiration and adoration lately, even before all this government stuff happened... what was going on? Was he overthinking this? Was he not putting enough thought into this?

And why couldn't he stop thinking of how good it felt for Joel to drink from him?

Before he could even realize it, the Hispanic dozed off in the comfortable car. Gavin and Michael both noticed, but neither did or said anything about it.


	12. The Road Stretches On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They continue their journey to find their friend. Thoughts and conversations pop up as they continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I havent abandoned this! Sorry, school and homework and such. I'll try to keep posting frequently though!  
> Comments Welcome!  
> (tumblr: aam5ever)

When Ray woke up, the car was parked. He excitedly sat up and looked around, thinking they had found where Joel was taken. Instead, they were pulled up in front of a gas station. 

"Uh..." He was the only one in the car. Subconsciously rubbing the two holes in his neck, Ray looked around for Gavin or Michael. He then saw them exit the gas station store.

"Morning, sunshine." Michael sarcastically said as he opened the car door. He threw the Hispanic a bag of Lays. "We were getting hungry."

"Yeah." Gavin opened his mini-box of Cheeze-It's. "Are you hungry?" He took out and munched on a few.

Now that they mentioned it, his stomach was grumbling. "Yeah, thanks." He opened the bag of chips and began eating. 

"So," Michael turned to them, not moving the car. "This is where I kinda need a map or something." He looked over to Ray. "I have no fucking idea where I'm going from here."

"I'll navigate." He told his friend. 

"Thank God," The curly haired man smirked. "I wouldn't want to trust Gavin with directions." Ray laughed at that.

"Ay, no need to be a bloody knob!"

"That sounds painful." Ray joked.

They continued onto the road, Ray pointing out directions and Michael following them. Gavin listened, even offered a few pointers, as he happily ate his beloved Cheeze-It's. They made a few turns here and there, and even got lost once.

"Ray, where the hell are we?" Michael's brow furrowed. 

Ray bit his lip. "Huh, funny thing his," He put his phone down, which he was navigating with. "I have no idea."

"What?" The car pulled over. His friend looked at him, puzzled. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"We missed a turn."

"Well why the fuck didn't you tell me?!" Michael yelled as he threw his hands up.

"You were busy yelling at Gavin about his singing!" Ray argued.

Gavin tried to interject. "It wasn't that bad-" 

"God damn it, Ray." Michael shook his head as he put the car into drive again. "You should've told me."

"Well, now I did." He mumbled. Michael rolled his eyes with an exaggerated groan as they got back on the right track again.

An hour or two later, once it was almost nighttime, they reached their destination. 

"Wow..." Gavin looked up... and up... and up. "Bloody hell, that's a big wall."

The outside of the stone walls were smooth and gray. The Lads had pulled over once they reached the place, which was extremely out of the way from the highway they were on previously. It was quiet, with no immediate houses in sight. 

"So, how do we get in?" Michael looked over at Ray, who had a very concerned look on his face.

He had no fucking idea.

"Uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck, his head tilted to the side. "Maybe find an entrance?

"Walk around this entire thing?" Michael said in disbelief. "If you haven't noticed, it's pretty damn wide. And that's only me talking about one side!"

"Hm..." Well, fuck. "Let's just sleep for now."

"In the car?" Gavin said.

"No, on the road, idiot." Michael shook his head at his friend. "The only fucking place we can sleep is in the car!"

"I-what?"

Ray sighed. "Maybe this was a bad idea." He said to himself.

"What was that?" Michael heard him say something. His friend only shook his head and began heading back to the car. Michael was concerned for him. He seemed pretty tightly wound, and always looked worried in some way or another. The Jersey man could only follow him back into the car.

After a bit of shuffling around, the Lads finally got comfortable in the car. Gavin managed to dose off easily, his soft snoring one of the only noises present. Michael turned away from Ray, pulling a beanie that Ray didn't even know he had with him onto his head, covering most of his curls. 

Ray himself didn't sleep. He stayed awake for a while, his mind clouded with thoughts. Would he be able to get into the Neighborhood? Was this the right Neighborhood?

Why was did he feel this weird feeling when he thought of that tall vampire?

Joel was always around him before. Sure, they goofed around at times. But why did Ray feel this certain... way about him now? And why wasn't it going away?

It was a plethora of questions.

"Hey." Someone whispered. Ray nearly jumped out of his skin, thinking everyone was sleeping by then. To his left, Michael peered at him through the darkness. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Why aren't you?" Ray whispered back.

Michael shrugged. "It's uncomfortable."

"Well, same."

"Dude, you were fucking snoozing your ass off before we went to the gas station."

He'd forgotten about that. "What do you want?"

"Are you worried?"

The question was a bit random, and took Ray by surprise. He was unbelievably worried, but the Hispanic thought that admitting that would get Michael worried too. "I'm alright." He lied. "You?"

"Ray, I've been your friend for a while now." Michael said in a don't-be-ridiculous tone. "Don't bullshit me."

His friend sighed. "I don't know what to do." Ray said a bit quieter after he heard Gavin's slight snort from the back. "I don't know how to get over those walls, or where Joel is, or..." He trailed off before he mentioned his developing feelings for the vampire. Was that what was happening? Developing feelings?

"Or what?" Michael pressed. 

Ray shook his head a bit. "Nothing."

"Listen," The red head shifted his position to look at Ray. "I know how you feel. It'll take time, of course. You just gotta fuckin' stick with it. Don't pussy out, just figure it out." Michael smiled. "I'll help."

Ray couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks, man." His hand absent-mindedly reached up and rubbed the vampire bite on his neck again.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Michael finally spoke up about it.

"Doing what?"

"Rubbing the spot Joel chomped into you from."

Ray quickly removed his hand, embarrassed. "I-I didn't know." He looked away, his cheeks beginning to burn. 

"Weird." Michael looked away for a second, then decided, fuck it. Might as well ask. "Are you and Joel together or something?"

Ray stared at him, wide eyed. "What the fuck?" His said it a bit loud, and Gavin groaned from the back. He lowered his voice. "No, where'd you get that from?" 

"I don't know." Michael shrugged from his seat. "You seemed a little... like, into him or something." He felt a little stupid for asking. "Nevermind. Go to sleep." He then turned around and tried to sleep himself.

Ray sat there, staring at the back of Michael's head, before turning back to his original position too. Where has that come from? 

"Also," Michael continued. "you were blushing like a motherfucker when we pulled Joel off of you after he bit you." And then he went to sleep.


	13. Infultration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray, Michael, and Gavin finally manage to make it within the walls. However, it wasn't what that had imagined.  
> Also, the Gents had no idea where they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but it adds a bit more suspense.  
> More are coming, I'll try to be quicker about it!  
> Hey, Comments AND Chapter suggestions welcome! (I'm expanding my horizons ;D )  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

Ray woke up to what sounded and felt like an earthquake.

"Ray!" Gavin was shaking him awake. "Ray, look!" He was shouting over the noise.

The Hispanic woke up groggily, and caught the view of the wall in front of them opening up like a sliding door. There were black cars beginning to enter the area that the wall opened up. The inside of the walls was within sight, and Ray sat up more and stared at what was happening.

He suddenly had a simple plan.

Within the walls, Joel opened his door and looked out to see the far walls to the right of him opening. He began to go and take a look, but was stopped short by a guard. Guards we're usually clad in a bit of body armor. 

"Wait, what's going on?" Joel was curious.

"Newcomers." The guard informed him. "You're getting new neighbors. Now go back home."

"This isn't a home."

"You know what I mean."

When the guard look like he wasn't letting up, the old vampire grumbled and went back home. He got himself one of the blood packs and drank from it. It tasted familiar, and not in a good way, but he drank from it anyway. Whoever donated their blood for him did not have the best tasting type. 

"Gavin, shut the fuck up, will you?" Michael hissed. They had snuck into the walls while the cars came in with the newcomers inside, careful to hide as soon as they could. Hiding behind a few trees within the stone walls, they all looked at each other expectantly. Gavin had made a few squeaks, thus making Michael silently yell at him.

"Well?" Gavin said. "What do we do now?" They didn't get the chance to survey the area, therefore had no idea what was in store for them.

Ray sighed, then removed three things from his pockets.

"We're really using the fake teeth?" Michael complained. "This is so stupid."

"It is." Ray smirked. "Here." He tossed them to his friends. "Let's see if this even fucking works."

Away from all of that, Ryan looked over at Geoff, who had put his phone down for the fourth time after attempting to call any of the Lads.

"Still no luck?" Worry laced his words.

Geoff nodded with a sigh. "Where the fuck are they?" He put his phone off to the side, running a hand through his hair. "I just- where could they be?"

Ryan could only shake his head with a shrug, hoping that his coworkers hadn't been late to work for a serious reason. Why weren't any of them answering their phones?

Joel, from inside house #31, heard a knock on the door. It made a strange rattling noise as it was knocked apon, and the man immediately got up from that startling noise. When he opened it, Walter's eyes looked up at him, wet with tears. He had a cut on his lip that was bleeding and a red cheek from what seemed to be a slap.

"Walter..." He crouched down to the little boy's height, who sniffed and wiped his runny nose with his dirty sleeve. "Walter, I- what happened?"

"I wanna go home." His voice was full of sadness and fear, and he immediately went and hugged the old vampire. Joel was surprised by the little boy's forwardness, but hugged him anyway. 

It was a tough neighborhood.

Ray, Michael, and Gavin finally had the fake teeth in, much to the red head's dismay, and decided to come out from hiding. Michael had his beanie on, so Ray and Gavin flipped their hoods up and ventured into the neighborhood.

If that was even a good thing to call it.

As soon as their eyes came in contact with the bad conditions of the place, they assumed it was the wrong area. They shot looks at each other before continuing. 

Gavin was the first to speak up, like usual. "Where do we begin?" His bright eyes scanned the bleak place, and spotted a vampire walking down the cracked, slightly broken sidewalk. She looked at them, her eyes sunken, her hair bright red. The female vampire hissed (which was something the Lads have never seen a vampire actually DO) before turning away and going about her business.

"Uh..." Ray continued to look around, trying not to let it be revealed that this place may not have been the right one. Even if it was, where could their friend be? "Let's try asking people." His tongue got poked by the fake teeth in his mouth.

"These people do NOT look friendly." Was Gavin's opinion. 

Ray sighed. "We don't have much of a choice." He began walking to a house with the #1 on it. "Let's start looking around."

"Alright." Gavin began heading to house #2. Michael decided to ask people walking around.

"Hello?" The British man knocked on the 2nd house's door. It creaked open, and he swore he heard something fall from inside. "Is anyone here?" He stepped into the house. It had one or two holes in the roof, letting some light in. That was the only light let in, and behind Gavin, the door suddenly shut with a bang.

"Bloody hell!" He shouted in alarm, startled. The Brit peered through the darkness, and thought he could make out a woman-like figure in the (what seemed to be) empty house with him.

Her voice was smooth yet intimidating. "A human, entering my home?" It also had a Portuguese feel to it. "How stupid of you."


	14. Meetings, Both Good and Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin meets the Vampire Witch, and immediately wishes he didnt. I mean, anyone would.   
> Michael meets... oh, just read it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter again, but hey, something big is coming up!  
> LIFE changing for a character!  
> I CAN'T WAIT.  
> Comments and Suggestions Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

"She told me to stop asking about home," Walter took a minute to sniffle again. "And... slapped me when I tried to speak again."

He had been talking about his 'caretaker', Penny, and how he had gotten his marks. She was growing tired of simply hearing him, and got so fed up that she laid her hands on him. 

Joel shook his head in disbelief. This was terrible. "Do you want to stay with me?" It sounded weird. Maybe he should rephrase. "Like- like, so you don't have to stay with Penny." Good save, Heyman.

Walter looked terrified at first, then looked away when he nodded. "I hate Penny."

Joel pet the boy's head. "I hate her too." He smiled at Walter, who smiled back sadly. "Do you want some blood to drink?"

The little boy's face changed a bit. "Why do vampires drink blood?" He was genuinely curious. "Blood comes from humans, and if we drink from humans, we're bad. So what else can vampires do besides drink blood?"

"I don't know." Joel shrugged as he took out a bottle of the red liquid for the boy. "It's the only thing we can drink. At least- at least I think so." 

The boy drank from the bottle, then made a noise of displeasement. "This tastes funny."

"Yeah." Joel agreed. "Ignore it for now, I guess." He sat down again and began to talk to his younger companion about his 'old' life, with Roosterteeth. 

Meanwhile, Gavin was having a nightmare of a time.

"Who are you?" His voice was wavering. He backed away from the woman, who continued to walk forward. 

"I prefer the name..." She stood in one of the small beams of light from the roof. Gavin gasped. She was skinny beyond belief, yet her hair was still deep, jet black, not fading in color. Her skin was once tan, but now much paler. She wore only a tank top and long skirt, both originally white, both dirty and torn in places. The bite on her own neck that turned her were gaping holes. Her cracked lips moved to utter the next words, her title: "the Vampire Witch."

"Vampire W-Witch?" Another step backwards. "Well... it was nice meeting you." He turned, but suddenly, bony fingers pulled him back by the hood. Gavin stumbled and fell, and the thin woman smiled her bloody, yellow toothed vampire smile.

"Where do you think you're going?" She loomed over him, her sharp teeth ready to drink from anyone, vampire or human alike. This was why she was considered so unstable; she drank from both. 

Gavin started to scramble away, but she caught him by the arm, and yanked him up. She was surprisingly strong for her size, but most of the strength came from her vampire instincts. The Brit squawked at the sudden jerk upright, but she then pushed him against a wall, bringing her dry lips close to his neck.

"I don't want to just bite you..." Her hoarse whisper left unsettling warmth on Gavin's neck. He tried to yell, but the woman covered his mouth forcefully. His muffled screams made her smirk evermore maliciously. "Oh no, I want to drain you of your very life essence, until all that's left is a husk of a man." His more urgent muffled shouts pleased her as her fangs just brushed the Brit's skin-

"Gavin?" Ray opened the door. The sudden light made the Vampire Witch's head shoot up. Ray stared at the scene before the woman hissed and ran away from the light. Gavin, instead, sped off to where Ray was. 

"Ray, go, go, go!" The British man urged. He pushed the Hispanic out of the doorway and began to get himself as far away from house #2 as possible. 

"What the...?" Ray turned to see the man a few feet away from him, white as a ghost. He went over to him, adjusting his fake teeth with his tongue. "What the fuck just happened?" The door shut behind him.

"She-she was a madwoman!" His friend was shaking. He grabbed Ray's arm, holding it rather tightly as he pulled him on closer. "She tried to bloody sip from me!"

Ray shuddered. "She tried to drink from you?" The fear in the Brit's voice made him realize that the woman wasn't planning on drinking from him with care.

Gavin nodded. "She was gonna suck me dry!"

Ray patted the man's shoulder. "It's alright, dude. We'll be fine." A man was walking towards them. A guard. They had to go. "Let's keep looking for Joel."

Gavin nodded again, pulling his hood over his head again, before continuing with his friend down one of the poorly paved streets.

A bit of a way away from them, Michael asked the fiftieth (only from his assumptions) person for a person by the name of Joel Heyman.

The African American man shook his head. "No, I don't."

Michael cursed under his breath before bidding the man farewell. He continued, passing house #30... #31... #32... As he kept going, he realized that there were little to no people living in houses past #42. The red head doubled back, getting frustrated as the teeth threatened to come loose from where they were yet again. He fixed them, and a woman stared at him funny. Michael looked away, continuing at a brisker pace than before. 

How hard is it to find one fucking vampire?

Michael decided to knock on some doors. What else could he do, anyways? The first door he knocked on was answered by a teenager. He began to speak, but she shut the door in his face. A piece of the door fell.

The second time's usually not the charm in any instance ever, except for this time.

When he knocked on the door, a familiar voice called out. "Just a minute!" And then the door opened. 

Michael's eyes met with Joel's.

"Holy shit." Michael said.

"Oh, fuck." Was Joel's words.

"Who's that?" Walter said from next to him.


	15. Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seems like things might be looking up after all. For now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but I'm TELLING you the next things coming are pretty damn big.

It took a bit of explaining, but finally, Joel understood all of it. 

"So," He began to summarize. "You're saying that Ray organized a plan to come get me?" 

"Yes, Joel." Michael rubbed his eyes in annoyance. 

"You sure you're not a vampire?" Joel asked for the third time.

"God damn it, Joel." 

"Hey!" Joel pointed at Walter. "Language!"

"Whatever."

The older vampire's expression changed into a serious one. "So, where are the others?" They were standing in Joel's 'living room', Walter off to the side, listening.

Michael could only shrug. "They're looking for you too. Only Gavin and Ray are with me."

"How did- I just..." The vampire ran a hand through his messy hair. "How are you going to get me out of here?" He looked towards one of the broken windows. "I don't know if you know this, but this place is SORTA guarded by the government."

Again, the Jersey man could only shrug. "Maybe we can sneak you out...?"

Joel sighed. Then, another voice piped up. "Are you going away, Joel?" They both finally paid attention to Walter, who looked frightened and concerned. "Can I come?"

"Uh..." Joel found a problem. He couldn't just leave this little boy here, within the walls. He had to do something. "I'm- maybe..."

"Uh, who are you?" Michael was curious about the boy. "Joel, who is this?" He was also unsure.

Joel bit his lip. "Oh. He's Walter." Was his short and not informative introduction.

Michael rubbed his eyes. "Joel, I mean what is he DOING with you?" He looked around the unkempt house. "Where's his family?"

"They're not with him." Joel said a bit quieter, much more serious. The Walter boy looked down at his feet. "I let him stay with me."

"But..." Michael had no words. First, the condition of this place, and now a child getting taken away from their family? "Isn't that against some type of law?"

"The LAW put us here." Joel suddenly became angry. "The LAW is why I'm having to be fuckin' rescued, and Walter is days away from home."

Walter winced when Joel cursed, but didn't speak up. He only cast glances at the two men while they spoke.

The younger man could only say one thing: "Well, the LAW can suck my dick. You're busting out of here." He smiled softly at Walter. "Both of you."

Out on the street, a block or two away, Ray and Gavin were looking for Joel still. They didn't know where Michael was either, but trusted he didn't get into as much trouble as Gavin just had. Speaking of Gavin...

He was still a bit pale, and he didn't bother to even hide his fear. The Brit stayed close to his friend, armed folded around himself as he tried to get that image of the Vampire Witch out of his mind. Gavin's only known nice, calm vampires in his life. He was never attacked or even threatened by one of those immortals.

Gavin had forgotten how scary they could be when needed.

His eyes were wide and alert, and Ray glanced at them worriedly. He had explained to his friend what had happened, but Ray knew that Gavin needed some time to settle down. It was kind of hard to settle down about a vampire attack when they were within a neighborhood of those immortals, and Ray knew that.

"Let's try looking down this street for Michael." Ray pointed down what the broken sign said was Darkwood Rd. 

Gavin nodded, and let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding when Ray pat his back. "It'll be fine. You look super tense."

"Yeah..." The Brit mumbled. He pulled his hood over his head a bit more and stuck his cold hands in his hoodie's pockets. He and Ray went down the road, looking around the houses. He decided to try the knocking idea again, and told Gavin he could stay back if he wanted to. His friend didnt argue. He only bit his lip as his eyes darted around, as if worried that the Vampire Witch was going to attack him again.

"Excuse me, sir." Ray tried to be as polite as possible as he spoke to the man that had opened the door to him. He looked shady, lean, and Spanish in some sort of way. "Have you heard of a person named Joel Heyman?" The man gave him a confused but angry look. Ray nervously smiled. "You know, tall, pale, messy hair..."

The man suddenly smirked. "Yeah, the new guy." He knew him as the man who wouldn't even bother sharing his food with him. "Prick."

Ray laughed uncertainly. "Well, would you happen to know where he lives?"

"...have I seen you around here before?" The man took a step forward, peering at the Hispanic. Ray, a bit panicked, shook his head immediately.

"I-I'm pretty new myself." Was his excuse. 

"Oh really?" The man seemed intrigued. "So you could spare some blood to share with me and my boys." He jerked his thumb to behind him, where Ray just noticed the talking and hollering from inside the battered house. 

He gulped. "Bl-blood?" He tried his best not to rub the bite on his neck. "I don't have any..."

"No need to fuckin' lie, man." The lanky man's accent was very apparent. "It's just some blood. The assholes here make us ration the shit, and-"

"I just want to know where Joel is." Ray urgently cut him off. The man glared at him.

"No blood? No location." The man said, leaning against the frame of the door. "I'm Erick, the only guy that can get you some answers."

Ray folded his arms and looked away, thinking about it. This man could be lying... but he could also know where Joel is. He didn't have any blood though... but what if Joel was nowhere to be found?

"I'll think about your offer." Was Ray's safe response. "Then I'll come back if I'm even interested." He tried his best to seem calm and collected.

Erick frowned. "Don't be such a jerk off, man." He leaned in closer. "It's just..." Erick caught a whiff of something only a vampire could. Blood. Human blood, right under Ray's skin. Coursing, flowing... "You're not from around here at all, are you?"

Ray's eyes widened as Erick's look changed from negotiative to predatory. "I'm new, I-I told you that." He was losing his cool. 

"Nah, man." He swiftly grabbed Ray's shirt, who tried to push him away. "I think you're more than new." Erick began to pull him into the house, his sharp toothed smirk menacing.

Gavin, staying behind and seeing all of this unfold, immediately jumped into action. Seeing Ray being pulled into the house, which barely resembled anything suitable for living, he shouted his name and ran up from behind him. He tried his best to pull Ray away from the vampire, and succeeded. He and his friend stumbled back, and Erick began chasing after them. Soon, his 'buddies' that were in the house followed suit.

The scene was incredible. Something straight out of an action movie. The two lads ran for their lives while five men with fangs chased them. They were fast, these vampires, and they were basically nipping at both Ray and Gavin's heels. The two managed to make a few choice turns to confuse them, and ended up hiding in between two houses. Ray held onto Gavin's arm, and they both tried not to pant too hard. The quiet was what urged them to come out, and convinced them that the lethal vampires weren't around to get them.

The houses they had managed to hide between were house #30 and house #31.


	16. A Bump in the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've finally come together. They now can form a plan to get out of there...  
> ...unless, you know, someone got kidnapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a terrible updater.  
> School and personal issues came, and time went by so fast, I sort of forgot about this.  
> But good thing I keep chapters in stock! Enjoy!  
> Comments Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

"What the fuck...?" Joel heard a ruckus outside. 

"I'll go check it out." Michael said. He slipped out of house #31, and looked around. Gavin and Ray were slowly emerging from between the houses, and the curly haired man caught sight of Ray's twitch hoodie. "Ray?"

The Puerto Rican winced at the sudden attention called to him, but looked at Michael. They smiled at each other. "Hey, Michael!" Ray pulled Gavin out from behind the house, who had been hiding still. "Where have you been?"

"Guys, you won't believe who I found." Ray's eyes lit up as soon as Michael uttered those words. "Get your asses over here!"

They obeyed, following Michael into house #31, and seeing the vampire they had been desperately searching for. 

"Hey guys." Joel lamely greeted. Gavin's face lifted, his smile more apparent than it had been since they got there. 

Ray stared at the tall man, shocked that they had actually found him. The loving, heart skipping emotions coursing through him were surprising, but accepted by himself. Suddenly, before even he knew what he was doing, Ray was hugging Joel tightly. Joel stumbled a little at the shorter man's suddenness, but hugged him back all the same. 

They had missed each other more than either could imagine.

Gavin noticed the little boy to the right of Joel. "Um...?" He cast a look at Michael.

"He's Walter." His friend smirked. "He's coming with us."

"But-"

"Shut up and go with it." Michael cut the Brit off. Gavin could only shrug with a goofy smile. Walter snickered.

"So- um..." It was Ray who was stuttering, embarrassed by his sudden display of affection towards Joel. "I guess we're getting you out of this shithole."

"Language!" Joel hissed and pointed at Walter, who didn't really seem to care. 

"Anyway," Ray tried to get back on track. "Um... how do we leave again?"

Joel shook his head with a smile, taking in all of Ray's silly charm. He had missed it for the short while he had been in that neighborhood. "I guess, when the wall opens, we sneak out."

"But, the big men with black on..." Walter was referencing the guards. 

The older vampire thought about it. "You're right." He put on hand on his hip, and another ran through his already tossled hair. Ray couldn't help but find that simple motion slightly attractive. "Let's try- maybe try and figure this out gradually."

They all nodded, realizing this plan was going to need a bit more time than what Ray spent trying to get INTO the place. 

It was at night when they're plans were a bit... interrupted.

They had figured out that finding out when the walls opened was the first step. They'd have to hang around the wall then, try not to be suspicious, then sneak out once the walls open.

Sounded easier than it would be.

They stayed up late, speaking about this, before Joel and Walter realized that the humans wanted to sleep. He let them use his (terrible) bed, and he and Walter decided to talk a bit more, outside of the house. They spoke about their lives, with Joel speaking about Roosterteeth and Walter about his family. Gavin slept in the couch in the living room. 

It was morning when the complications started.

The sun was just peaking over the horizon, and Joel and Walter hadn't realized how long they'd just been outside, speaking and surveying their neighborhood. Sneaking back inside the house, since they were on the opposite side of it, the first thing Joel noticed was that Gavin was gone.

The second was the note.

"Dear Joel," He read to the other two when he woke them up as soon as possible. "We've got your little human friend hostage in my house." They already knew this was Erick's doing. "Give us all your blood, and we won't kill him instantly. The clock's ticking. You have until noon." Joel looked up, and they all shared worried looks. 

"We have to get him." Michael deadpanned.

"Obviously." Ray ran a hand through his hair. "But, your blood-"

"It's fine." Joel quickly cut him off. "I'll go." He began to walk to the door.

Michael and Ray followed. "We're coming with you." Ray said. He saw Joel stop, then look back at them. 

"Are- are you sure?" His eyes caught Walter's, who was unsure of what was going on. "Michael, watch Walter." Joel ordered.

The Jersey man frowned. "But- but Gavin..." He wanted to be there to make sure his boy was alright. 

"We'll make sure he's fine." Joel assured him. The old vampire smirked at Ray. "Right?"

Ray's cheeks reddened slightly. "Yup." He opened the door. "Let's go."

When they arrived, one of Erick's 'friends' had already opened the door. The Spanish man behind him pushed him away from the door, deviously smirking at the two new visitors.

"So, I guess you came for him?" He scratched where his tattoo was. Both Joel and Ray nodded. "Fuckin' fantastic. And the blood?"

"Go to my house and get it yourself." The older vampire spat. Erick frowned, but didn't take too much offense to Joel's angry response. 

"Hey boys!" He called from behind him. "Go empty out this fuckin' sad sack's house." The four men snickered and glared at both Ray and Joel before pushing them out of the way and beginning to go to the latter's house. Erick gestured for them to enter the house. "Your friend was delicious, by the way." His tongue darted over his sharp fangs. 

Ray's stomach churned when he said that. What did that mean?

When Erick pointed them to the living room to the left, the two didn't know what to expect. He left them in the house, going to retrieve Joel's contents of his fridge as well. Ray and Joel entered the room, and what they got was a pathetic sight.

Couch pushed the to corner, TV pushed another way, in the middle of the room was Gavin. Tied up, gagged, and beaten up Gavin. He was unconsious, and blood still seeped out of a wound on his neck. 

A wound that looked like two round holes.

"Gavin!" Ray ran over immediately while Joel took a few more moments to assess the situation. The Hispanic man quickly took off the gag, and untied the poor Brit. Said man suddenly woke up with a jolt and a gasp, about to fall out of the chair. He was quickly grabbed by Ray, who muttered for him to calm down, that it was okay. 

"Gavin..." Joel got closer, assessing the damage. "Something's not right." He just stared at the British man's tired, drained face. He was much too pale, and his breaths looked planned, forced...

"I-I don't feel good..." Was all Ray's friend could quietly say to them. He looked ready to collapse, to pass out... to die, even. His usually bright green eyes were dim. He closed them, and began to doze off.

"No, Gavin!" Joel shook him, which got a reaction out of the foreigner. He peered at the old vampire, his exhaustion causing his vision to be blurry. The pain was all over him, and he just wanted it to go away.

"Joel, we have to get him back to the house." Ray urgently told him.

The vampire shook his head, his brow furrowed. "Too obvious, we'll get caught." He looked away from the Brit, who was holding onto consiousness. "He may not even make it, anyway."

"What do you mean?" The Puerto Rican's voice was now laced with curiousity and concern.

"They took too much blood." Was Joel's response. He shook Gavin's knee when he saw him drifting off again. "His heartbeat's hardly there, and he'll just keep bleeding out." He stood. "There aren't any supplies to stop the bleeding, and he won't produce enough blood without any food." Joel brought his own arm up to his mouth. "I have to turn him to keep him alive."

Ray's eyes widened. He couldn't believe this was happening. "W-what?" 

"It's the only way." 

Gavin eyes fluttered closed again, and Ray shook him partly awake. He moaned, and his face scrunched up in pain. "I'm so tired..." He muttered. It broke his friend's heart.

Joel sighed, and used one of his own fangs to cut his arm. Making a large enough cut, his own thick, cold blood seeped out of his arm. It was a dark color that Ray couldn't even begin to describe.

Then, the vampire moved his arm in front of Gavin's mouth. "Gavin." His voice sounded demanding, darker even. The command in Joel's voice caused Gavin to pay attention, if only slightly. "Drink." 

Ray couldn't watch. It was a weird sight, and it seemed too personal and too awkward for him to witness. He saw Gavin begin to lick and sip some of Joel's vampire blood, and could only look away.

It was a few moments after before Ray heard the screaming. 

It was coming from Gavin. The cold blood was beginning to take affect, and it was excruciating. It suddenly like his skin was on fire while his head was underwater and he was drowning and being stung by a million bees and experiencing a cool breeze while feeling his heart suddenly twisting and turning inside of him-

And then, for Gavin, it went dark.


	17. Break Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albiet the... complications going on, the others manage to form a plan and put it into action. Will it go smoothly is the question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, I just realized how many things are going on in this story. Time to organize it!  
> It's a bit shorter, and some things may be glossed over just for the sake of 'I forgot' or 'it'll come up later'  
> Comments Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

He woke up with Michael looking down at him. He felt odd, cold, and something was wrong with his mouth...

"He's awake!" Michael shouted way too loud. Gavin winced noticeably. Ray and Joel, who had been just talking about an escape from the neighborhood, immediately went over to see the man's condition.

"Gavin..." Ray stared at him in what looked like disbelief. The Brit's skin was paler, his eyes were brighter, his teeth sharper...

How the FUCK was Geoff going to react to Gavin becoming a vampire?

"Wha- what is it?" He sat up slowly, feeling sore but rested. His tongue darted over one of his sharp teeth, and a concerned look came over his face. Was he still wearing his fake teeth? 

"Gavin, I don't want to alarm you, but..." Joel looked away and chuckled sheepishly. "I turned you into a vampire."

Gavin stared at them all, then laughed. "Quit pullin' my leg, J-Roll." He smiled. "I'm not that idiotic."

"But," Ray looked over at Joel. "we aren't pulling your leg."

They all gave the British man a serious look, showing that they weren't joking in any way. The smile melted off Gavin's face, replaced with a fearful look.

"I- no way..." He reached up and poked one of his sharp teeth. Sure enough, it was real. "Bugger me-"

"Don't panic!" Joel quickly said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It was the only thing I could do to keep you alive."

Ray saw Gavin's face quickly flash confusion before understanding, as if he almost didn't remember what happened. For Ray, he wish he could forget how hurt and close to death Gavin was. 

Suddenly, Michael's stomach grumbled. He reddened slightly. "So, um, yeah... we haven't fucking eaten in a day or two."

Joel looked worried, first for Ray and Michael, and then for Gavin. "Gavin, you're going to want to... attack Ray or Michael for the next week or so."

"What!?" He loudly squawked. "I'd never-"

"You'll understand when you're..." The older vampire rubbed the side of his own face. "When you're hungry." He was, honestly, beginning to feel his hunger become apparent. He couldn't imagine what the other two must've felt, being away from food for a little less than two days. They looked low on energy, just from appearance.

"Maybe we can get out of here today?" Michael sounded like he was pleading a little. He didn't want to hint that he was starving, knowing it wouldn't help much.

Ray saw Gavin look up at all of them, scared. He sighed. "Let's try."

"But..." Joel trailed off. The worst thing that could happen would be them getting busted... jailed... separated...

But I mean YOLO, right?

...Right?

"Let's try it." He finally said.

And so they tried it. And so, surprisingly, they succeeded.

Nobody spotted them. Nobody even glanced at them. And when those walls opened, they were out like rockets.

"How the fuck..." Michael glanced back at the walls. "Did that work?"

"Don't question it." Ray hopped into the back seat of the car that Michael had abandoned a few days ago. "Let's just go!"

They peeled out of there as fast as they could.

The beginning of the drive back was silent. They were far from food, from Austin, even. They didn't even want to turn the radio on. Then, suddenly, Joel loudly ordered the car to stop. 

"We forgot Walter!" His voice was completely enveloped in panic. Everyone else in the car was shocked at their own forgetfulness of the boy. "We have to go back."

"Joel..." Gavin's voice sounded apologetic. "I don't think we can-"

"We can!" The older vampire stated. "We have to!" He looked back at Ray and Gavin in the backseat. Joel was serious. "I promised him."

"Joel, I'm not turning the car around." Michael refused to look at him. His nails dug into the wheel. He didn't know if it was the hunger or the lack of good sleep, but Michael was much more irritable. "Shut up. He'll be fine." He knew that he didn't mean to be so mean, but the Jersey man really wasn't going to deal with this right now.

The old vampire glared at Michael, who was about to start driving again. "Are you fucking kidding- did you- you've got to be kidding me!" He threw his hands up. "Walter's probably looking for us right now!"

"Where was he earlier?" Ray wondered out loud. He hadn't seen the boy before he left, and even if the small immortal was just being quiet, why had they forgotten him? 

"I don't know, but we have to-"

"Joel, shut the FUCK UP." Michael's low threat grew in volume at the last words. He picked up speed, and they were driving away from the neighborhood again. Away from Walter.

Gavin didn't know what to say about all of this. So when he piped up, he said, "Can we get something to eat?" Before realizing that the hunger he felt WASNT for normal snacks or even a delicious meal. The only delicious meal he saw was next to him...

Wait, did he just-

"Good idea." Ray smiled at him, glad that he relieved the tiniest bit of tension. However, the front of the car was full of glares, sighs, and silent bickering that was portrayed in body language.

They pulled into the parking lot of a fast food place. And Ray offered to go order things with Joel. The older man immediately agreed. Anything to get away from Michael's fiery eyes.

"He just doesn't understand." Joel angrily told Ray as they were in line to order. "I made a promise."

"I get it, Joel." The younger man put a hand on the older's arm. "We'll figure out how to get him. But right now, we have to get you home."

"But he fucking..." Joel growled at himself. Ray frowned at how frustrated the vampire was. "Let's just order."

So they did. The Hispanic couldn't help but feel awkward around the tense man. Joel looked ready to bite a head off, very different from his usually easygoing personality. It was attractive in a way, but what he was serious about prevented Ray from delving into the feeling of how sexy a serious Joel Heyman looked. The cashiers shot weird looks at both of them before complying and preparing their order for them and the two in the car. Once they paid, they then slipped into the other line for waiting.

Behind them, a teenaged girl leaned over and whispered to her friend. "I thought vampires only drank blood." It wasn't a very quiet whisper. Even Ray heard it, so there was no doubt that his friend did too.

Instead of ignoring it, or even being a bit upset, Ray saw a slight smirk on the older man's face before he turned to the girls behind him. "It's preferred." The girls looked mortified. "You see, vampires need sustenance from a living thing. We're like misquitos, parasites..." Joel seemed to be enjoying his explanation. "Although, we usually don't feed to silently." His sharp toothed grin caused both of the teens to look at him pale faced and wide eyed. The girl with Starbucks in hand almost dropped it. He hadn't meant to come off as threatening. Joel was only joking around.

Suddenly, an older man behind them spoke up. "Stop threatening those girls!" His receeding hairline and gray patches on his beard showed he wasn't exactly only a few years older than Ray. "You're harrassing them!"

The girls had no idea what to do. They just looked back and forth between Joel and the other man. Ray saw Joel's playful smile slip from his lips. 

"H-Harrassing?"

"What are you, deaf?" The older man again rudely said. "Yes harrassing! You're obviously intimidating them!"

Joel sighed. He looked at the two girls. "Am I harrassing you guys?" His tone was calm. Ray could tell that this wasn't the first time he was profiled.

The two girls slowly shook their heads.

"See?" Joel looked back up at the man that was accusing him. 

"You probably just brain-washed them." He ignorantly stated. "The poor girls are too scared of what you'd do to them if you said no!"

"Can you just shut up?" Ray spoke up. They all looked towards him for the first time. "What kind of person would accuse a vampire of something they can't do?"

"How do you know he doesn't-"

"Your order, sirs." The dark haired girl behind the counter looked annoyed with the conversation. Joel and Ray looked at her sheepishly before they began to take the bags of food. She suddenly put her hand out and took Joel's arm, pulling him closer. "We'll make sure to... take care of his order." The girl whispered. "A good extra minute on the stove should burn it good." She flashed him the smile only a vampire could smile.

They left the establishment, pretty shocked by all of what just happened.

What they also didn't expect to see was Michael glaring at Gavin. From outside of the car.

"The fuck-"

"This shithead thought he could drink from me!" Michael cut Ray off. Joel looked concerned.

"Did he get to?"

"Nope."

"So how come he didn't just come out of the car?"

"I activated the child safety locks."

Joel and Ray couldn't help but share a look before laughing, and then laughing even more when they saw Gavin's puppy dog eyes from inside the car, staring at them.

"But Michael-"

"You're not nibbling on my neck, you British fuck!"


	18. Calling Home Base

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the ride back, a few... things pop up. Like, for example, hickeys and firing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyyye  
> I'm on the track of optimistic chapters so far!   
> Next one's GONNA be the opposite.  
> I hope you like it...!  
> Comments and Questions and Fanart Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

They all piled into the car again, Joel sitting with Gavin in the backseat this time. Ray and Michael had eaten their fill and then some, both sighing in content that the greasy food had given them. It wasn't the healthiest option, but it was one of the few. Joel and Gavin had just gotten soft drinks. It gave them a taste in their mouth and something to do, plus it sated some sort of hunger in them both. It wasn't the hunger for blood, but the hunger for any sort of energy. 

It was then that Michael realized that his phone was off. He and the other two had left their devices in the car to go get Joel. Once the phone was turned on, along with Ray and Gavin's, they all buzzed as new notifications popped up. Almost all of them were calls from work. The others were texts from the same people.

"Oh yeah..." Ray sheepishly laughed.

Joel, wide eyed, looked at all of them. "You guys... are SO fucked."

"Do you think he'll be super mad?" Was Gavin's dumb question. Michael shot him a quick "Shut up" before calling back Geoff.

He picked up instantly. "I FUCKING HATE YOU."

"Geoff-"

"WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU, RAY, AND GAVIN EVERYWHERE! WHERE COULD YOU MORONS ALL HAVE BEEN? YOU CAN'T JUST UP AND LEAVE WITHOUT A GOD DAMN EXPLANATION! I'M GONNA FIRE YOU, REHIRE YOU, AND FIRE YOU GUYS AGAIN FOR WHAT ASSHOLES FUCKING DID! HOW-"

"Geoff, they were with me." Joel spoke up. Immediately, the tattooed man over speaker phone shut up.

"So," Ryan now came over the speaker. "how did you guys manage to reduce my boss to a detective for the past few days, searching for you, and now make him speechless?" The man was smirking at his boss, who had his hands in his hair and staring at Ryan, jaw dropped. "He's literally frozen right now."

"Well..." And, so, Joel explained everything that happened. Ryan and Geoff remained silent throughout the story. He left out a few of the details that would worry them more, and when he finished, the line was silent for a moment.

And then, Geoff spoke. "'The fuck do you mean Gavin's a vampire?"

"Uh," Gavin's voice sounded small. "it's true."

"Shit on my dick, you're not lying."

"I don't think that's something to lie about." Michael said with a chuckle. 

Ryan, again, came onto the line. "Seriously, you guys have to get here immediately. We all need to have another fucking serious talk." He wasn't even close to kidding. "Maybe with Burnie and Matt, too..."

"Got it." Ray's hand traced over the spot where Joel bit him. Behind him, Joel caught the movement. He couldn't help but find it strangely cute. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

When they hung up, Gavin couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Joel looked over at the Brit.

"I can't even IMAGINE Goeff bloody firing us."

The next few hours were full of aimless talk and shamelessly bad pop songs. Over the course of time, Ray's hand always seemed to gently rub on the mark Joel gave him. Over the course of time, the Hispanic realized that both Michael and Joel were noticing. He tried to stop, but while he and his Jersey friend were talking, the fingers again found their way to his neck again.

Michael glanced just in time. "Ray, seriously, you have a problem."

"What're you talking about?" The younger man asked, confused.

"You keep touching that stupid fucking vampire bite!" His voice raised a little with a smirk and chuckle. Ray's cheeks reddened and he ripped his hand away from his neck. The blushing man looked out the window.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too." That last one wasn't from Michael. The Hispanic reddened even more once Joel said that. He had been making it that obvious? Joel had been paying attention? 

"Ha!" Michael smirked. "Even he noticed!" Gavin chuckled from the back seat.

"Uh..." Ray's face was really blushing now. "You guys are assholes." 

Joel kicked the back of Ray's seat playfully. "Oh, c'mon. You could never hate me." He smiled. Ray only rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

"Why do you keep rubbing that spot, X-Ray?" Gavin asked. "Does it hurt? Or do you just like the feeling of it?"

"I don't know." Ray quickly answered to avoid that he did it just to remind him of the warmth Joel had when he was close to his neck. The vampire's lips brushing the skin... his gentle sucking on the spot... the pleasure that filled Ray's inner being when it happened...

"Jesus, Ray." Michael snorted. "You're fucking blushing so hard you're purple." It was an exaggeration, of course, but it emphasized how bad the Hispanic had it. And by 'it', that meant 'IT'.

Joel chuckled from behind Ray as they drove, the gentle hum of the car calm enough to fall asleep to. "I'm pretty sure that the hickey I gave him is still hard to forget." The vampire bit his lip with a sharp tooth right as the words exited his mouth. Gavin and Michael's laughter echoed throughout the car, and Ray couldn't help but want to both punch Joel and kiss him for that comment. 

"Is that what it is, Ray?" Gavin said between squawks of laughter.

"Gavin, I don't care if you're a vampire," Ray glared at him. "I'm gonna beat you up so bad."

"Before or after Joel gives you another hickey?" Michael joked. Even with the hits in the arm he recieved, the Jersey man's laughter continued.

Joel chuckled a little. "Don't worry Ray. I'm only joking." He felt like he was blushing, which was almost impossible for a vampire to even do. 

"Shut up, Joel." Ray was actually a bit mad. He was super embarrassed for something that he would laugh off if it was anyone else. But it was Joel, someone who he actually did... have select feelings for. 

The worst part was, Ray was being SUPER obvious about it.

"Aw, Ray..." Joel pouted from the backseat. "Don't be that way..." He reached to put a hand on the man in the front seat's shoulder. Ray shuddered under the touch, but moved away from it still.

"Leave me alone."

"We're joking, X-Ray." Gavin saw how serious the Hispanic was. "Don't take it so seriously..." 

Ray didn't respond, just staring out the window, cursing himself in his mind for being so damn bashful and embarrassed.


	19. Short but Not-So-Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walter gets a very short interrogation. Ms. Morgan's patience diminishes easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, one chapter after the other!  
> Hey look, it's depressing as fuck!  
> :D  
> I'm sorry, I just love to write bad, bad things. Writing the sad Ray scenes? Literal heaven to me. I'm terrible.  
> Comments and Questions Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever  
> (By the way, when I thought of the vampire witch, I pictured her as a mixture of the Witch from Left4Dead and the girl that crawls out of the TV from The Grudge. Creepy.)

Far away from them, Ms. Morgan smacked her hand on the table.

"What the FUCK do you mean 'he's missing'?" She was livid. "How could you have let this happen?" Her usually tightly wound bun was beginning to droop, multiple stray hairs coming undone. Her eyes were sharp and piercing into the guard on front of her, who gulped. "I keep a tight hold on these residents, Parker. I make sure they never get out. Do you know what this'll do to my reputation?" Her nails screeched against the metal table, and Parker winced. "You better explain, and you better explain GOOD."

"I-I..." He took another shuddering breath in fear as he began to explain. "I went to check on Joel, and he was gone. I d-don't know for how long! It looked like there was someone else t-there..." Behind him, a little boy appeared. He had been behind the man, and was crying, shaking in fear of Ms. Morgan.

"And WHO is this?" Her voice boomed throughout the spacious sterile room.

Parker nudged the boy, who all of a sudden started spurting out words. "I'm Walter! don't know where they went! Let me go, I wanna go home! I won't be bad anymore, I swear! Please-"

"Silence!" She barked. He whimpered, but went silent again. "Oh, I remember you. You sobbing mess that was the same when you were brought here." She began to get a weird look on her face. "Who... is 'they'?"

The little boy realized his mistake, and stayed silent still. Ms. Morgan felt a growl in the back of her throat, as if she was a werewolf. She might as well had been, seeing she basically transformed into a monster.

"Who is 'they', Walter?" She said in a deadly tone. "Tell me, or bad things will happen to you for being a BAD. BOY." Ms. Morgan HAD to figure out who had infiltrated her Neighborhood, and how.

Walter was about to open his mouth multiple times, but then stayed silent for a long time. Maybe this woman did not control whether he was a bad boy or not. Maybe being a bad boy meant keeping his friends safe, wherever they were.

"...fine." She began to smooth out her dress jacket and hair. "I will have a guard escort you to House #2." The woman's tone was even and lighter. She's figure this out on her own, soon.

Walter's eyes widened. He has heard so many bad things about that place... It was where people went in and never came out from. "No, I-"

"And you." Ms. Morgan shifted her attention to the other guard. "You too."

They were both escorted by two guards, Parker sent there as well being stripped of armor. Both him and Walter had tears down their faces. Unlike the guard, Walter refused to kick or scream. This was for his friends, after all.

Upon reaching the home, their hands were both bound. The guard was sent in first, and screams from him for immediate. They closed the door and a bit before beginning to open it again for Walter, who looked up at one of them with pleading eyes.

"Please..." His voice was small and broken. 

One of the guards had to look away. The other could only look at the boy apologetically. "Sorry, kid." Before pushing him into the house and shutting the door.

Walter felt the witch watching him.


	20. The Meeting Before the Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Burnie, Matt, and Geoff finally get to see them all face to face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short again D: and even more serious, too.  
> This is a serious series.  
> I'll fix that in the next chapter!  
> Comments, Suggestions, and Questions Welcome!  
> (Tumblr: aam5ever)

It was night when they arrived at Roosterteeth. They exited the car, and Geoff, Burnie, and Matt were waiting for all of them.

"Holy shit..." The words fell out of Matt's mouth.

Geoff quickly ran up to them. "You guys scared us half to fuckin' death!" A hug passed from person to person. He looked them all over, and then his eyes tested on Gavin. "What... did you DO to him?"

"It was the only thing we could do." Joel tried to explain.

"Why would he even NEED to be turned?"

So then, the tale began. All of it, to all of them.

Geoff bit his lip and looked away. "...oh..."

"This is absurd!" Matt exclaimed. "What are we gonna do now? No doubt they're looking for Joel."

"We have to hide him, is all." Gavin said as an obvious idea. "Not bring him back to Roosterteeth."

"This place is the first place they'll look." Michael added to agree with Gavin. 

"But what about us?" Ray asked. "Won't they search us too?"

"I don't think they'll even care, to be honest." Joel said with a low voice. "That place was in no condition to even be fuckin'- fuckin' LIVED in. I don't know how the government even allowed for that neighborhood to be a neighborhood."

"What do you mean?" Burnie's voice was laced with concern. "The living conditions-"

"Were a pile of shit." The Jersey man didn't even wait for his superior to finish. Soon, that was explained, too.

"That's unbelievable!" Matt exclaimed. "You can't possibly do that!"

"Do you think we could do something about that?" Geoff asked Burnie in a low voice as the others were talkin for. 

"The government could possibly get into some deep trouble if that's how they'll keep the vampires." Burnie replied. "It's unsanitary, and much like punishment. Instead of it being fair, it's like prison." 

"Is that how it's supposed to be?" Geoff scratched the side of his face and glanced at Joel, who looked tired and pretty scruffy, even for him. "Even prisons have fair living conditions."

Burnie shook his head. "It's supposed to be a neighborhood." The man had a very look on his face. "What they describe isn't nearly good enough."

Gavin was listening in on their conversation, and sighed. "Well, what do we do then, Burns?" He saw the two conversation men turn, surprised they were being addressed. "It's the bloody GOVERNMENT you're going against! They're not gonna believe a company who's whole basis is to make dick jokes and yell at video games!" He was angry. He was angry at it all.

"Gavin, calm the fuck down, will you?" Michael put a hand on his shoulder, not even upset at the moment. 

The Brit pushed the hand away. "Do you realize that there are probably others like Joel that'll never get out? That the government's not gonna do anything because they made those rules?"

"But I was in the place." Joel defended. "I can say what was going on."

"Then they'd probably just say you're lying, and place you right back in the neighborhood." Matt was on Gavin's side. "We need to think with our heads here."

Ray finally piped up. "But what if that neighborhood was one of the only ones like that?" They all turned to him. "What if the government didn't even KNOW that some of them looked as bad as that?"

Everyone thought about that possibility too. There were so many factors they didn't know, so many things they had to think about. This idea conflicted with that, new problems arose... they all just needed more TIME.

"We have to have a meeting about this." Geoff finally spoke authoritatively. "With everyone." He turned to look at Ray. "Take Joel back to your apartment. He can't go back to his home, not with all this happening."

"You're right." Ray nodded. 

"I'll drive you both." Michael said. "And then Gavin-"

"I'll handle him." The mustached man put an arm around said Brit. "Right?"

Gavin had calmed down significantly, like he usually does after he gets riled up. "Yeah." He smirked, teeth sharp. They would've been intimidating if they belonged to literally anyone else but him.

And that's how Ray ended up housing an older vampire for the night while the government hunted for them.


	21. Achievement Kisser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joel and Ray get a chance to explore their feelings a bit more at Ray's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm shortening chapters again oh nooooo  
> It's finally a ship!  
> (I won't be writing too much in-your-face shipping of them because I'm super bad at it)   
> A more mellow chapter... Because you know how I love those!  
> Comments and Questions Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

"Ray, can I drink from you?"

"God DAMN it, Joel!"

"But... but I'm huuuungryyyy-"

"Fuckin' leave me alone. I'm playing something."

Joel groaned very audibly. "You're always fuckin' playing something." He sat down next to the younger man. "What are you even playing?"

"Call of Duty." Was all he offered as an answer.

"Lame." Was Joel's response. He laid his head down on Ray's lap, and smiled when the man blushed pink. "You okay, Brownman?" He began to tease. "You look a bit... flustered."

Ray bit his lip and shot a glare down at Joel. "Shut up." He was basically wrapped around the vampire's finger. 

They stayed like that for a while, Ray playing his game and Joel watching from his lap. One of the younger's legs was losing feeling, but he didn't try to even move, in fear that Joel would move away. He loved the warmth of the man's head on his thighs, and the tickle of his hair. 

"I have an idea!" Said vampire's head sprung up from Ray's lap, who dropped his controller in surprise. "Let's play Mario Party!" The younger man silently thanked God for the feeling returning to his leg.

"Why?" Ray asked, his hand already up by his neck, feeling at his bite.

Joel moved the man's hand, causing the other to nibble on his bottom lip, a bit embarrassed. Joel only did it to show he shouldn't be nervous or anything. "It'll be fun! I'm pretty sure I'll fuckin' wipe the floor with you in that game, anyways."

And so they played Mario Party 9. It was, at first, looking like Ray had it in the bag. And then... it wasn't.

"Ha!" Joel let out a triumphant sound. "More stars for me!"

"Oh, fuck off, Heyman." Ray couldn't help but laugh at the vampire that was now all smiles. All pointy toothed, happy smiles. Ray wanted to see him like that all the time.

Joel looked over at the man. "What, jealous?" He emphasized the last word and leaned closer to the Hispanic. "Let someone else fuckin' win the fuckin' game once and a while, Narvaez. Not everyone can have 400,000 plus 5 gamer score." He teased.

"Hey," Ray jumped to the defensive. "That 5 was totally an error!"

"I saw the stream," Joel began to prove his sources as his player moved on the screen. "and that plus 5 was totally your damn fault."

"I-" Then Ray stopped himself, seeing the bigger picture. "You watched my stream?"

Joel shrugged. "Maybe." 

"Are you a fan?"

"Maybe."

Now, THAT through the human for a loop. "Oh- I..." He began to blush again. "Thanks...?"

Joel suddenly paused the game. "Ray, you have a lot of fans." He laughed. "I'd think you'd be used to this."

"Well, I don't know..." The latter shrugged. "I didn't think you'd watch my stuff." He decided to admit something as well. "I watch How To's too."

"I watch Achievement guides too."

"I watch old RT Shorts."

"You watched those stupid things?" Joel was now even closer to Ray, his controller elsewhere. Ray took note of that and placed his on the table in front of him.

"Yeah." The younger man tried to play it off as normal. "They weren't THAT bad."

Joel only shook his head. "You have pretty bad taste." 

"So do you."

"Well, it can't be too bad since I like you, right?" The words rolled off of Joel's tongue so easily, Ray would've almost missed it.

Almost.

"L-like me?" His eyes went wide. "Joel-"

Joel chuckled. "I'm a natural actor, even when I try not to be." He eyed the younger man. He deep brown eyes, his pink lips and soft smile... the vampire wanted to have all of it. "And I'm not acting when I kiss you right... now." And then they kissed.

It was a wonderful experience. Ray has kissed girls before, but this vampire's kiss wasn't awkward or forceful. It was gentle... careful, yet not odd. The Hispanic let the kiss happen for a few moments (mainly out of shock) before kissing back, letting himself get taken away by both his and Joel's actions.

Feeling Joel pull away, he opened his eyes at the older man, who's face was full of concern and uncertainty. "I-I'm sorry." His casual yet nervous voice was apparent, and Ray was a bit attracted to it. "Is that- I mean- is it okay with you?" He wasn't sure if the kiss was uncalled for. Was Ray even into him? Was this all a mistake? Had he just ruined a friendship?

"Joel..." To answer the immortal's question, Ray chuckled and pulled him into another kiss. It was much more passionate, led a bit more by the younger man, and assertive of where they stood on the relationship spectrum. The Hispanic let his hands move their way up and down Joel's back, and Joel's thumb found the bite mark he had left on Ray's neck. He massaged and rubbed the mark, and it made the younger human get a shudder of pleasure. It was all so intimate, all such a beautiful realization of how they felt about each other. The slight sexual tension was now completely broken, and replaced with mountains of adoration.

They both pulled away from each other in due time, breathing heavily and staring at each other with content. Finally, Joel smirked.

"Well, I'm glad you feel the same way."

Later that night, Ray woke up in the middle of the night, disoriented. He almost lashed out when he felt the presence next to him in the bed, but soon realized it was only Joel. They hadn't done anything naughty. The cuddling was just something they couldn't resist, especially at a time like this. They fell asleep cuddling, apparently. 

"Joel?" He nervously said his name. Ray knew he couldn't be sleeping. And, even if he was somehow, he couldn't be doing it fully. 

The vampire's eyes sprang open, bright and alert. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but," Ray was whispering, even in there was no need to. "are we telling the guys about us?"

Joel couldn't help but chuckle at the man's question. "Ray, I'm pretty sure they have their suspicions." He pulled him closer. "Now, calm down and sleep. You haven't slept good in days."

Ray knew Joel was right, so he finally let the sweet embrace of drowsy sleep wash over him and pull him into the ocean of dreams.

He hated the ocean.


	22. Bad Dreams of Good People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray's nightmare made him extremely uncomfortable, and he especially didn't know how to feel since it was about the guy he was sleeping next to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short again! Fluff to the max!  
> I needed to get this fic happier in some way, plus I wanted to make a comfort scene, therefore this chapter was born!   
> Enjoy my (terrible) fluff writing!  
> Comments and Questions and Suggestions Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

Falling. That's all the first part of the dream was. Falling, and seeing people go past him. Walter, Barbara, even Geoff... 

Somehow, he survived the fall, and found himself in the room that they had found Gavin in before. Ray looked around. It was all set up the same way as before. Even Gavin was still in his seat, looking weak and in pain, blood dribbling down two holes in his neck. The Brit was still human at the time.

Ray could only watch as a tall hooded man came from the shadows. He placed a pale hand on Gavin's shoulder, and before the Puerto Rican could even register what was happening, began sucking on the man's neck.

Gavin squawked and screamed, trying to get away. The vampire draining him held him in his spot, taking in all of his essence. Finally, Gavin's screams stopped, and he stopped moving. And breathing.

The hood slipped off of the stranger, and familiar messy, dark hair made Ray gasp.

Joel turned, mouth a mess with fresh blood, and smirked his usually casual and friendly smirk. Instead, it was full of insane intentions and unrelentless thoughts. Ray tore his eyes away from the horrific sight of the dead Gavin and focused on the advancing vampire.

Ray couldn't speak in the nightmare, and trying only proved his point. All he could do was turn on his heel and run out of the house and into...

...the Achievement Hunter office.

The crazed Joel had him pinned against his own desk in a few swift steps, and Ray wished he could scream or something or ANYTHING. The vampire then, wordlessly and without warning, sunk his teeth into the human. Ray's neck felt like it was being sucked on like a straw. It was odd and awkward and strangely painful, certain nerves tickled, certain bones aching. 

Then, the Joel in the dream pulled away from his neck, and stared daggers at him before baring his fangs and hissing-

Causing the real Puerto Rican to wake with a start.

"JESUS, RAY!" The immortal had been so startled himself, he fell on the ground.

Ray only screamed before calming down, realizing his nightmare was over. "Oh... oh my God..." He paused to catch his breath. 

Joel's head popped up over the edge, and then he got back onto the bed. "What's wrong?" He hesitantly took Ray's hand, unsure of how the Puerto Rican would react.

He reacted negatively, pulling his hand away a little, but only because of how much his dream unsettled him. "I'm-I'm sorry... I just..." He saw the immediate guilty look passing over the vampire's face. "It isn't you... exactly. I promise." 

"Then, what is it?" Joel leaned in closer, their shoulders bumping together in more of a friendly manner. It comforted the human.

"I had a really bad dream... more like a nightmare..." Once Ray began to explain the dream, Joel could tell how it could make him so upset. The immortal's face expressed how disgusted and concerned hearing about the nightmare had made him.

"I'd never..." Joel could only shake his head. "You... you know I wouldn't do that, right?"

Ray nodded, biting his lip. "I don't know why I had a nightmare like that. It just got me really fucking freaked out."

Joel pulled the younger man into a soft hug, gently petting his hair. "Don't worry about it." He whispered into Ray's ear. "I'm here to keep you safe from now on, like you kept me safe."

"What do you mean?" Ray suddenly pulled himself out of the hug. "I never kept you safe."

"Trying to stop me from being taken away and coming back for me..." Joel smirked. "Those are things someone would do to keep someone else safe." He loved seeing Ray try to search for words.

"I... uh..." He was just so damn adorable to the vampire. "Oh, will you just-"

Joel interrupted him with a kiss on the lips. 

He pulled away from the kiss and said in a low voice, "Thanks for trying to protect me, Ray."

The latter couldn't help but smile back, finally holding Joel's hand. "Thanks for letting me."

They continued to talk in the bed about the little things, and for that moment, everything felt normal... normal and sweet...

And then it wasn't.


	23. The Legitimate Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone comes together to discuss the situation in greater detail, and one or two conclusions are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I apologize for these boring chapters) (They're here to set the tone of the situation)  
> I'm back again! And this time, hopefully this chapter will get some more stuff rolling!   
> Now, I might have some more future projects to work on (I still accept prompts) so if I get a bit slow with updating, I thuroughly apologize.  
> Comments and Questions Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever

"Ray..." Joel poked him in the side. "Ray, your hoodie's so small."

"Not everyone is as tall as you, Joel." He smirked slightly before looking up at the opening door, where more employees were still filing in from. 

Joel couldn't even get the sleeves to his wrist. "Didn't have anything bigger?"

"It was either you took my clothes," Ray glanced over at him again. "or wore that dirtied up fucking excuse for a hoodie you came here with." Before Joel could complain anymore, the younger man spoke again. "Now sh, the meeting's about to begin, and it's important."

"Of course it is."

RoosterTeeth's meeting halted all activity. It made everyone cease production and filming and editing because of the magnitude of the new issue. Once everyone had the oppurtunity to get to the very large room to hold the meeting, Matt began to speak.

"Thank you for coming." Matt's politeness kicked in. "Obviously, we have a bit of an..." His gaze immediately shifted over to Joel. "Issue." 

"What do we do?" Kara asked out of random.

Burnie sighed. "That's a... a good question. The thing is, keeping Joel here is a risk to us all, yet sending him back is not good either." 

"Where he lives is actual crap." Gavin spoke up. Burnie shot him a look, but knew that the Brit was only speaking the truth, thus letting him go on. "The houses were close to shambles, the place unfit for any-bloody-one to even be." He then looked away. "And the people..."

"The people?" Matt hadn't heard about the people. 

"There apparently were people that were insane, and shouldn't even be aloud anywhere near civilization such as that!" Geoff then explained Gavin's encounter with the Vampire Witch. The British man had told his older friend all about the horrid woman the night before. Matter of fact, Gavin couldn't even sleep last night, the woman even haunting the young vampire's dreams.

"Why did they put vampires in those conditions?" Jack was calm, yet concerned. "Is it like this everywhere else?"

"Those are two questions we aren't sure of." Matt lamely answered. "Which is why we need to keep Joel out of sight, just in case they're looking for him."

"One thing's for sure; he's not going back to that place." Michael assured. 

"There has to be a way to notify someone of the vampire's treatment in that place." Adam Ellis said. "'Cause that's fucking ridiculous."

"But, the thing is, how do we know if the government knows already, and doesn't give a shit?" Another person said. Ryan looked and saw that it was Brandon who said that. JJ nodded in agreement from next to him.

"You see?" Burnie's voice interrupted all of the small titters that came from Brandon's comment. "This is what we have to investigate. Something just isn't right here, and that means that if nobody else will, WE have to get to the bottom of it."

"What do I do?" The old vampire next to Ray looked around. "I feel like I have to do SOMETHING. Shouldn't I fuckin' be a part of the fuckin' investigation revolving around me?" His usual language didn't phase any of them.

Burnie smiled at his friend. "Dude, calm down. We're gonna use you to get more information."

Joel sighed. "Fair enough."

"So, are we suddenly a detective company?" Was Ryan's only question.

"Just continue with work as normally as you possibly can." Matt answered. This was his final word of advice. "We'll continue to look into this, of course, but I'm pretty sure our audience will be a tad... confused if we delay or neglect shows we usually put out."

"And because of you four assholes," Geoff pointedly looked at Team Lads and Joel. "we had to use some of our back up videos, along with film Team Gent videos." He then smirked. "Happy editing."

And then, the meeting dispursed. Ray and Joel were held back to talk with Burnie some more.

"You two!" He called them over as soon as they were a foot away from the door. "I think you should both stay away from here."

"What?" They both simultaneously exclaimed. 

"I have videos to make with the guys!" Ray defended. "Can't Joel just go home now?"

"Yeah, no." Burnie shook his head. "You'll have to house him for more time. Plus, we need someone to watch over him, just in case police or something try to snoop around." 

"But-"

"Ray..." Joel put his hand on the other's arm, and made him slightly blush. Burnie caught the reaction, but only kept his giggle and grin to himself. "He's right. I'm sure the other guys can handle stuff around here." His usually stuttering voice was replaced with a calmer, more soothing one.

"I-I guess so..." The younger man was sort of tired with verbal fighting. He had done it extensively with the agents, and with Burnie too. Maybe he should just accept that his judgement wasn't always the best.

"I'll drive both of you home." Burnie took out his car keys from his jacket pocket. "Just try not to bang in the back of the car, will ya?"

Ray's face went red. "We're not gonna bang!"

Joel hid his own blush. "Why do I have to fucking sit in the back!?" Was what he complained about.

Oh the way back, Burnie seemed to realize something.

"Holy, shit, I almost forgot!" He glanced up at the review mirror, seeing the younger human and immortal behind him. "Tomorrow's Halloween, isn't it?"

Ray looked at the mirror too. "How should we know?" They both shrugged. "We were kinda gone for a long time."

"Sorry you two have to stay in on Halloween." Burnie apologized. 

"Eh, it's fine." Ray shrugged it off. "Hopefully, no trick-or-treaters will come up to my apartment door. That's only happened a few times, anyway."

"Well, if you say so."


	24. Happy Surprise-Halloween!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween sure can be boring when youre condemned to an apartment next to someone you're scared to make a move on.  
> Unless the party comes to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM STILL ALIVE.  
> I've been writing in snippits, which its taking me so long to write new chapters of anything. Also, school is getting in my creative way.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Back at the office, Geoff was still trying to cope with the idea of Gavin being... very less human. In fact, MOST of them were. His skin was paler than usual, which wasn't all that unsettling. What was the most prominent thing was how much cooler his skin was, along with his fangs. 

"Jesus Christ, I think you're gonna eat me every time you yawn." Jack jested. Gavin stuck out his tongue at the bearded man before.

"Oh, cheers, Jack." He sarcastically said. The Brit was feeling tired. He didn't know how Joel could stay awake during the day; practice makes perfect, he guessed. Getting up and stretching, he took a swig of his water and looked over at Geoff.

"Are we gonna film that VS?" He asked expectantly. Everyone looked at each other before looking back at Gavin.

"Is that a good idea?" Jack said, unsure. "How would the audience feel about it?"

"They dealt with Ray's bite. I'm sure they can handle vampire Gav." Ryan had faith that they wouldn't freak out too bad. There were so many vampires in the world, this shouldn't be too much for them to handle, right?

"Let's get to it, then." Geoff went along with it.

Once the cameras started rolling, the first thing Gavin did was smile as wide as he could, showing off his new and improved fangs. "Hello, lovely audience. I'm a vampire now!"

Boy, were they in for a shock.

Ray and Joel sighed audibly, simultaneously. It was Halloween, and they hadn't done anything better than play Halo and occasionally share a look of longing. They didn't know how to act around each other. Whether to stay away from each other or suck each other's faces off was the battle they had in their minds.

It was around noon when the doorbell rang for the apartment. The two jumped, startled, before sharing a very unsettled look.

"Who is that?" Ray whispered, setting his controller down on the table cautiously as his character died once again. He was losing by a great amount anyway. 

Joel looked over and shrugged, easily as confused as his friend was. “I have no fucking-

“Open up, morons!” It was Burnie. What the hell was he doing here? Shouldn’t he still be at work?

“And who else?” Ray spoke to cover up he fact that Joel was with him. 

 

“Michael, Brandon, and Barbara. Now hurry the fuck up! Holding this stuff hurts!”

“Stuff...?” Ray went opened the door. Baskets of candy, all different kinds, were in all of their hands, and they four smiled at him. All the man could do was stare in disbelief. "What-"

"Happy HALLOWEEN!" Barbara smiled. When Ray looked up, only then did he realize that they were all in costume.

Barbara was dressed in a blue dress with a smock in front, also with a black headband on. She was obviously Alice in Wonderland. Looking to the left, he saw Michael as the classic zombie and Burnie as the classic Frankenstein. It wasn't weird at all for them to be in costume. In fact, they dressed up every year that Ray's known them.

Joel had gotten up by now and was smirking at them all. "I see you decided to pay us a visit." He folded his arms.

"All to stop you from fucking a coworker." Michael winked, causing his long-time friend to blush and the vampire to chuckle.

"I'll gladly take this distraction." He was the one who actually swung the door open, letting the others in. Ray stood off to the side, simply gazing at the candy being brought into his apartment. When they finished piling in, Ray shut the door.

"So, why are you here?" He asked the others. 

Burnie shrugged. "Surprise...?"

"We wanted to maybe hang out with you guys. Four more people are coming later, when they're finished filming and such." Barbara informed him. She looked up at the screen that Joel and Ray had been playing Halo on. "Who's the one that's losing? Joel?"

Ray looked off to the side. "No... that would be me." 

Burnie laughed. "No surprise there." He pointed to Joel. "That man is the best Halo player I've ever seen."

"Well, Ray's the best everything-else player." Joel tried to pass off the compliment. Ray realized what he was doing, and didn't know if to battle it with another compliment or just accept it.

Michael didn't give him the chance to say anything. "So are we gonna play or what?"

They began playing (well, two of them) while the rest watched. Michael was up against Joel, and the battle was 'slightly' one-sided.

Slightly meaning Joel was kicking Michael's ass five ways to Sunday.

"God damn it!" Michael shouted, causing there to be a roar of laughter throughout the room. Ray sat next to Joel on the couch, and glanced over at the older male. His face was focused, but happy at the same time. His dark, sparkling eyes darted left, then right, looking around the split screen. His tongue darted out of his mouth, moistening his pink lips before residing where they once were. The crinkles around his eyes was proof of his many years of laughing.

Ray couldn't help but feel a warmth explode in his chest for Joel. He was so... so HIM. Everything about him was what the human liked.

"Ray?" Joel's voice snapped him back into reality. "You alright?"

Damn it, had he been staring? "Ye-yeah." Ray weakly smiled at the other. "I'm good."

"You wanna play?" Joel was holding the controller out to the lad, who shook his head in response. Joel then handed the controller to Barbara, who was itching to play against Brandon.

They had lots of fun, munching on candy and playing various games. At some point, they busted out the Wii and decided to play Wii Sports Resort (why Ray had that game was beyond him). Soon, the four people that were destined to come arrived. It was Apocolypse Survivor Lindsay, Count Dracula Gavin, Grim Reaper Jon, and Ryan.

"No costume, Ry?" Gavin looked him up and down. "Where's the spirit?"

"Only a mad King would dress like a commoner." Ryan winked at the younger man before looking towards Ray. "Do you have any Diet Coke?"

"Raid the fridge!"

Ryan put on a devilish smile. "Gladly." He left Gavin's side, who was still wondering how a formal model and theatre actor could be so... unsettling.

"Count Dracula, Gav?" Joel rolled his eyes. "You're such an ameteur."

"What? It works!" He dramatically pulled his cape so he covered everything but his eyes. "Are you scared yet?"

Michael then took the chance to deliver a quick punch to Gavin's genitals, causing the Brit to squawk in surprise and pain.

"I don't care what fucking creature you are," Michael snickered. "you're still a dickie bitch."

"Oh, come off it, Michael!" Gavin sat next to him on the couch, and shenanigans ensued, like usual. Ray smiled. He had been so tightly wound and worried, he had forgotten what it was like to relax and just enjoy company. 

"Hey, Ray!" Tina had entered the apartment, since she had the key, and took a second to register what was around her. "Jesus, I leave for a few days..." 

"Tina!" He hadn't seen her in so long. They shared a hug, and she smiled at him.

"So, what the fuck is happening?" She gestured to all of the people in the home.

"Uh, you know, living out one of the parties I was never invited to in high school." Ray joked.

She laughed while rolling her eyes. "God damn it." Her facial features then suddenly hardened as she turned to face him more directly and speak quieter. "So, about the Joel thing..." She had been informed about it already, by Burnie. Tina also knew the lengths Ray had went to go get the vampire back.

"Tina... he's gonna be staying with me for a while." He explained. "There's a lot of controversy we have to think about, and not a lot of time."

Tina nodded, positioning her braid to her other shoulder. "Alright." She then regained her smile. "Any hot chocolate I can have? Or did you forget to go food shopping again?"

"It's kind of fucking hard to go food shopping when you're breaking the law." He relaxed more once the subject was dropped, and spoke louder. "But yeah, there's some in the kitchen."

"Sweet." She patted his shoulder before going to retrieve some of the chocolatey deliciousness. Ray sighed before going to sit next to Joel again.

"You know," Joel shifted a bit closer to Ray. "I've never formerly met-"

"Tina Dayton, at your talking needs." The woman appeared so abruptly next to the vampire that he yelped in surprise and jumped. She had overheard what he had been saying, and come over to introduce herself. Both Tina and Ray found themselves giggling.

"Joel Heyman." The older man shook the younger woman's hand once he regained his composure. She smiled before going back to make the hot chocolate. Joel turned back to Ray. "She seems nice."

"She is."

They continued to talk as the rest of the people in the apartment played games and talked and ate and laughed as the evening slipped into night.

"I want to get bevved up, but bloody Ray is a virgin to the stuff!" Gavin complained.

Ray rolled his eyes. "For the thousandth fucking time, I HAD it before. I hate the feeling of it."

"Maybe you had some of the bad ones." Gavin said. 

"Leave it, Gav." Michael warned. "It's his choice, moron." 

Ray shrugged. "Yeah."

Joel looked over at the man next to him. "Interesting." He smirked. Ray saw those sharp teeth and had to resist the urge to stroke his own bite mark.

Suddenly, Burnie's phone rang. "Hello?" He answered in high spirits. Most of the people didn't pay attention, but Brandon witnessed Burnie's face change from blissful to stoney in a matter of seconds. Something was majorly wrong.

"They just came and raided my house!" Geoff was yelling through the phone. "Those fucking dicks woke up my daughter for this bullshit!"

"Geoff, calm down..." The manager's voice was serious and concerned. "Do you know if they're trying to check all the houses?"

"I have no idea, but keep watch! Ray and Joel are okay, right?" 

"Yeah they're-" Burnie stopped when he saw them exchange a small kiss that nobody else witnessed. "they're great." His voice slightly cracked.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it." He coughed slightly. "What should we do?"

"I don't know, man! I really don't!" Burnie could tell them at this was the point that Geoff started combing through his hair with his fingers, as he usually did. "Uh, just um, try to-"

Burnie didn't hear the rest. The party they were all having suddenly ceased when there was rapping on the door.

"U.S. Government. We're looking for a Ray Narvaez Jr."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay emotional roller coasters!  
> Comments, Suggestions, and Prompts Welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever


	25. No Escaping This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First came the expected, the one Ray saw coming. The came the twist, the one Ray didn't see coming. Finally, the unexpected, the one Ray could still hardly understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy, I had a field day with this one.  
> This is literally just me making so much work for myself than I even need.  
> But it'll be fun to write, hopefully.  
> I hope you enjoy this!

Everyone was obviously scared of what was going to happen. They all stared at Ray, who looked the most started of them all.

No, they needed more time, they just needed more time... they can't take Joel again, please don't let them take him again, there had to be something he could do...

Shakily, the human stood. Joel looked up at the shorter man as he didn't make eye contact with anyone and walked straight to the door. Tina had signaled for Joel to hurry to the bedroom quickly, and she closed the door behind him, all before Ray even reached the door.

Ray swallowed before speaking as naturally as possible. "Can I... can I help you?" It was a different agent. He looked like he was of Spanish descent, and had broad shoulders. Ray could tell that the man participated in all parts of the gym, looking built in every best way possible.

"I'm looking for a runaway vampire." God damn, his voice is deeper than Ryan's. "He worked for your company. A man by the name of Joel Heyman." 

"Heyman?" Ray felt a shiver go down his spine, but he still tried to meet the eyes of the agent that towered over him. "I just knew he was taken away..." 

"If I could come in to ask a few questions-"

"You can't!" Ray said way too abruptly. He cursed himself in his mind. "If it was any other time, it would've been fine. But..." He gestured to the people behind him, who were trying to just enjoy the party. "I have other guests."

"I understand you're the one the heathen fed off of." Ray had to control himself from retorting with something equally as rude or worse. "Did he never try to contact you after he broke out?"

"I didn't even know he broke out!" Ray emphasized. "I also don't know why you're trying to ask questions when I told you I don't have the damn time." He tried to close the door on the agent with no avail. The man only pushed against the door, sending the smaller man stumbling back into his own apartment. The agent pushed into the home. 

Burnie suddenly stood up. "Hey!" He was by Ray in a second, ready to defend him. "You can't just come pushing into people's houses!"

"I will if the higher-ups give me permission." The agent snapped back. "And they do."

"But this is personal property." It was Barbara's turn to stand and speak up. "This is most likely against the government's own law. Where's your proof of bypassing the law? Your warrant?"

"My warrant is my rank, lady." He obviously wanted to call her a different word. "Where's the runaway beast?"

"There are no 'beasts' here." Brandon growled. 

"Says a beast himself." The agent was about to move towards Brandon, but Ray pushed him back with force.

Ray was beginning to get angry again. Here they were, trying to find people to take away from him. AGAIN. "You can't just kidnap vampires and lock them up in fucking TERRIBLE places!"

"We will do as we please!" He yelled back. "You are in no position to question our authority. We are protecting you people from these things that can kill you in seconds!"

"But most choose not to!" Burnie said. "Don't you understand? Most aren't hostile! Some are, but even then, they shouldn't be treated like lesser things, put in places not suitable for anything. Especially when they can still hurt other vampires!" Behind them, Gavin squirmed, knowing that he was an example.

"They don't die." 

"You obviously need to educate yourself." Snapped Brandon. All of the people in the room looked ready to take the agent down. It was a heated stand off, and all Joel could do from inside the closed bedroom door is listen to his friends protect him. Again, he was useless.

What could he even do? He couldn't go try to defend himself. From what he was hearing, the agent would've tried to take him anyway.

"You all need to let me do my job." The deadly, low voice of the Spanish man made Ray slightly tremble. He still held his hard glare. "I do not want to use force, but I will if you don't let me get the vampire, wherever he is."

"Well, he isn't here." Ray folded his arms.

"Then why are you so protective over letting me search your house?" 

"This is personal property-"

"Oh, shut the fuck up." They were all shocked at his language. "You're holding what we now categorize as a fugitive, escaping from his-"

Gavin found the nerve to pitch in. "Prison?"

"...home."

"His home is with US." Michael finally was getting angry enough to burst. How he stayed silent for this long was a phenomenon. "Not in whatever shithole you TRIED to put him in. Who the fuck do you think you are for even trying to rip him away from us in the first place?" He was in front of the agent now. "Get the fuck out of my friend's apartment!"

That's when he caught a swift blow to the face.

Lindsay was immediately at her husband's side, and Ryan was trying to help Burnie get the agent out of Ray's door. The man pushed both of them to the floor, Ryan hitting his head with a sickening 'thunk'. 

"I need backup." The agent said into what looked like his pin. Two more men were immediately in Ray's home, fending off the employees, looking for the man. 

Gavin was so worked up, so angered, his felt the presence of his fangs much more now. He could just suck the life out of all of them... make them sorry... 

Brandon saw Gavin's face change into an angry and predator-like expression. He immediately put a hand on the Brit's shoulder.

"Gavin!" He saw his face soften again. "No." He could tell what the man was thinking, and knew this wasn't the right way to go about things. He was a new vampire, so of course the urges would come for him to want to tear everyone apart.

"But he's-"

"We can handle this in other ways." Brandon tried to convince the man. Gavin growled slightly before slightly pouting and turning his attention to the violent agents.

Joel, from inside the bedroom, heard all the commotion that was happening only a door away. He knew he should do something, but what? What could he possibly do to make any of this better?

And then, Joel’s thoughts of reason stopped when he heard a groan of pain from Ray.

The agent had pushed him away, and he stumbled to the floor. For added (unneeded) effect, he kicked the smaller man in the stomach. Ray groaned loudly, still dazed by both the fall and the kick. Suddenly, he saw the door to his bedroom fly open before the agent could even lay a finger on it, and a hostile Joel stepped out. He looked ready to fight.

“Joel...” Ray slowly sat up on his wooden floor. “Don’t...”

“You guys are hunting vampires that are harmless...” Joel’s glare could cut through the finest of diamonds. “And making them seem like monsters.” He took a threatening step forward. “But have you ever in your FUCKING LIFE seen a true monster?”

“Joel, calm down.” Burnie tried to touch him, but the rage-filled vampire only shrugged him off quickly. 

“You’re coming with me.” The agent was about to step towards the vampire, but he beat him to it.

“Only when I’m dead.” And then he lunged at the man.

Burnie tried to pull the vampire off as quick as he could, but Joel still clung onto the agent. His punches broke the nose of the man on the floor. Joel was out of his mind. Literally. He wasn't thinking right, if at all. All he could think of was how this man hurt Ray and tried to hurt the rest of them, too. 

"Get him off!" Gavin and Michael were trying to help Burnie now, too. Joel suddenly brung his lips to the agent's neck. He breathed in the rushing blood that was just under the skin, and sunk his teeth into the writhing man's neck.

Ray watched in horror as the agent screamed, desperately trying to push Joel off of him. He was frozen, on the floor, watching a man's life basically flash before his eyes as a person he held dear to him was trying to suck his energy source straight out of him. Blood began to trickle out the man's throat, dripping down his neck. Joel continued to suck relentlessly, looking like he wasn't ever going to stop. Ray finally found his voice.

"Joel!"

The vampire seemed to snap back into reality, and pull away from the agent, who looked ready to faint. At one time, he thought he was on top of the world. Now he knew what it was like to live a nightmare.

"I... I-I'm- I..." Joel's stammering nature kicked in as he tried to wipe the quick-drying blood away from his mouth. He teeth were still red enough to be evidence of the deed. The vampire looked more scared than anything. He had been calm for decades... centuries... he hadn't tried to kill anyone since he first was turned... that record was broken. Joel looked around at everyone, who's eyes were boring into him. He believed that trust was broken to. "I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry. I-God damn it!" He hit the wall nearest to him. "I didn't mean to hurt... I was- I'm so fucking stupid..." Tears stung his eyes, and he made no effort to wipe them away. The salty liquid left trails through the sweat he was working up.

Ray didn't say anything. He seemed to have lost his voice again. What could he say? That it was okay? That Joel was a moron? So many things were going wrong while the silence was occasionally broken by the oldest vampire's soft sobbing. He wanted to hold him so badly, but knew this just wasn't the right time. 

Will there ever be a right one?

"Joel Heyman, you have performed hostile acts against a citizen of the United States." One of the backup agents stepped forward while the other one took care of the bitten agent. "Your consequences, along with you being a runaway from a Neighborhood, will be discussed heavily when we deliver you to the Neighborhood you escaped. It will be heavily guarded, thanks to you."

"I... understand." The vampire looked limp. He had to do what they said. He couldn't hurt anyone anymore. Everyone would be so much better off without him.

"Come with..." The agent trailed off, as if listening to a noise that wasn't there. He then spoke into his pin, like the other had done. "Yes sir, I- Are you sure? Austin already... We're on our way." He looked... concerned, to say the least.

"What?" Burnie could feel that something was wrong. Very wrong. "What's going on?" He had taken off his 'Frankenstein' helmet by now. 

The agent was starting to turn away from all of them when Burnie asked that. He sighed, and looked towards all of them in the room. "Sector T34 and T46 have been overrun." His eyes looked at each and every one of them. "The vampires are loose."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terrible things! Terrible things everywhere!  
> Comment which event you thought was the expected, twist, and unexpected!  
> Comments, suggestions, and prompts welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever


	26. Hell's Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang, in Ray's apartment, confused, unsure, and frightened, try their best to decide their plan of action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may get a bit crazy...  
> This was not at all what I was gonna write in the first place, but since we're here, we're gonna sail this ship till it sinks.  
> Hope you like the rocky waters.

The agents left quickly, leaving everyone pretty shaken up and confused. Ray immediately took the chance to go and hug Joel, tell him everything was okay, and not care that blood was on his clothes. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Ray couldn't help but recall the absolute monster Joel was in his nightmare. This had been too similar.

"What was he talking about?" Barbara was just as baffled as everybody else in the room. Lindsay could only shrug and look over and Michael.

"No idea. What the fuck is Sector T34?" Michael asked the clueless coworkers. 

"It was probably the Neighborhoods." Brandon said as he helped Ryan up. The older man was a bit disoriented, his head hurting beyond belief.

Lindsay sighed. "If the vampires are loose... are they trying to get to cities?"

A silence passed through the room, and it was obvious that everyone was in deep thought. Burnie spoke up after a few moments. "He mentioned Austin to whoever he was talking to. They must be coming here."

"W-what?" Gavin's experience from the Neighborhoods came flashing back to him. "What do we do? Are they hostile?"

Barbara fixed her headband. "We have no idea."

"They'll probably be roaming the streets." Joel told them, his voice steadier. He still clung onto Ray, and nobody made a comment about it. "Some of them are just looking for home." He remembered Walter. "Some... just want to kill."

"We have to stay here!" Lindsay was worried. "If we go out there, we might possibly be torn apart! Some of the vampires were in the Neighborhoods for a damn good reason."

Next to her, her husband shook his head in disbelief. "This is fucking madness."

Ray looked up at Joel, and decided to say something. "You should... you should go clean yourself up." He let go of him. Joel, at first, looked a bit scared. The vampire then left the room, a few stares trailing him until he went to the bedroom, where a bathroom was connected to it.

"...what do we do about Joel?" Tina whispered. "Is he... okay?"

"I've never seen Joel lose his cool enough to... do that to somebody." Burnie rubbed the back of his own neck. "That was fucking insane... I don't know what we should do."

Gavin bit his lip. "Maybe we should-"

"We do nothing 'about' him." Ray was getting annoyed that they talked about him as if he actually WAS a monster. "We should talk to him like the person he is. Figure out if he's okay that way." He crossed his arms. "He's not some kind of fucking specimen."

Burnie looked at him with a face that showed apology, then nodded. "You're right." His expression then switched to concern. "Now about these vampires..."

"We should just camp here for tonight." Brandon was agreeing with Lindsay. 

"Are you-" Gavin was interrupted when he heard multiple footsteps seemingly running through the halls outside of Ray's door. Said door was then pounded on with so much force, all of them were afraid it was gonna break. 

"What do we do? Who is that?" Tina inched towards Ray, obviously unsettled. Ray pulled her closer, since they'd been friends for so long, he seemed to have a duty to look after her. This worked vice versa, of course.

"I'll get it." Gavin spoke up, moving towards the door. "I'm a vampire, I can handle this." His coating of confidence worked well to hide how frightened he was. The Brit had no idea what to do but answer the knocking.

The opening of the door revealed two children and a father, obviously dingy and tired. Gavin didn't know how to react at all.

"Have you seen a woman named Lisa?" He was a vampire. All of them were. "We ran away from the Neighborhood... they're trying to seperate us..."

"I-I'm sorry." Gavin stammered. "I don't... I haven't seen her." They looked unbelievably disappointed. "Where was she last seen?"

"She ran into this complex..." The father held one of his kids closer. "I don't know what to do..." He ran a hand through his hair, looking close to tears. Gavin didn't know whether to ask him more questions or hug him.

More footsteps were running towards them, and the children started to scream. The father began to run, hurrying his children along, and Gavin could only stare as police zoomed past the door as well, in pursuit of the unfinished family.

"I-I..." Gav was, to say the least, confused. He couldn't help them now. Were these... the type of people that broke out of the facilities?

"We have to go out there." He turned and said. "We have to do something about all this bloody madness!"

Brandon was still skeptical. "But the violent vampires-"

"Will be taken care of with help from us." Ryan was confident as well. "There are people we need to help, humans and vampires alike. People could get killed, or captured wrongfully."

Ray looked from person to person. "How are we gonna do this?"

"Fuckin'- I don't know." Barbara shook her head. "But we have to do SOMETHING. Maybe we can take out all the hostile ones. Help the innocent."

"And the police?" Lindsay's brow furrowed. "What of them?" 

"Maybe we can try and explain what to do?" Burnie offered as an idea. "There's a police station not too far from this building. Some of us can get to there, contact the police men."

"What if they don't listen to us?" Michael asked. "There are gonna be some fuckers that won't care what we say."

"It's our only chance." They didn't even notice when Joel slipped back into the room. Ray looked over at him, biting his lip at the sexy determination all over the old vampire's face. "Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be fucking epic.  
> Suggestions, Comments, and Prompts welcome!  
> Tumblr: aam5ever


	27. Fighting Stance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew go out into Austin, which is been basically been turned on its head. Gore, violence, and screaming littered the streets.  
> Could they really save everyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had so much school shit.  
> These updates are actually much more random than you think. These short chapters sometimes take a day. Sometimes, a week.  
> I hope you enjoy this action-packed chapter!

"I didn't think I'd actually have to use this..." Lindsay was talking about the baseball bat she brought to complete her apocolypse survivor look. "God damn it."

"We just have to be careful, is all." Burnie had dug in the closet that Ray held all his (unused) sports items. In it were two golf clubs, a bat, and a random short metal pole that was to replace any curtain rod that broke in the home. Ray took that.

Burnie held one of the golf clubs, the other given to Michael. The bat that wasn't Lindsay's was given to Barbara. Everyone else swore they were fine. Ryan even cracked his knuckles like the true badass most people believed him to be.

Maybe he could live up to his GTA status.

"Is everyone ready?" Burnie checked. They all nodded. "Don't hit anyone unless they're attacking people. Try to help others, and maybe direct them to places that seem safe."

"I can't believe this is happening..." Joel rubbed his eyes. "All because I wanted a drink from Ray."

"Hey, you get what you get." Ray shrugged.

"And you don't get upset!" Barbara finished the rhyme.

"Oh, shut up, Barb." Joel joked. He shot a smirk at Ray too, who did so back.

"Well, I guess we go then." And with those final words, Brandon and everyone else ran out of the apartment and down the stairs. 

Immediately, there was a conflict.

"Get off of me!" The resident of the complex screamed. A man was on top of her, hissing in her face. She screamed bloody murder, sending a chill down Michael's spine. He instantly beat the vampire off of her, and hit him again in the head for good measure. The woman scrambled away.

"Are you okay?" Lindsay tried to be the voice of calming.

The woman nodded frantically. "Th-thank you." She was a vampire. "Thank you so much." A sob broke out of her, and she began to hurry away to her apartment.

The unconsious vampire was left there, since they didn't know what else to do with him.

“Tina, Michael, and Brandon,” Burnie called their attention as they exited the building. “You three head to the police station. It’s just south from here.” Michael nodded.

“C’mon.” He smiled at Tina, and patted her shoulder. Then he nodded at Brandon. “Let’s take care of these fuckers.” They ran off.

“The rest of us’ll take care of everyone here.” Burnie made sure everyone understood. They all nodded, and Lindsay gripped her bat tighter. “Glad we understand. Call each other to check in. Ray, stay by Joel. He doesn’t have a phone.” 

“Go it.” The younger man took a step closer to the vampire.

And then they dispersed. 

Ryan and Gavin took off to the right, where they spotted what looked like a horde surrounding something in the middle. "What are they around?" The older one was curious.

"We gotta check it out." Gavin patted his shoulder, and ran off, untying and letting his Dracula cape fall from his shoulders. He really didn't need to be looking like such a dope when there was a city-wide panic.

The Brit tried to push people aside, and he noticed some were kneeling. The crowd was beginning to thin out as vampires lost interest. When most of them left, he realized what they had been crowded around. A man's eyes were still wide open and staring up, his mouth agape. His neck was just a mushy, bloodied mess. Around him were vampires that were getting up, obviously proud of their work. Gavin almost threw up the contents of his stomach at the sight, and Ryan jogged over and stopped short. One of the vampires that had a bloodied mouth from the deed and smirked at him, his teeth stained red.

"We beat you to it." His voice was hoarse, as if screaming was what he did in his passtime. Then he walked off, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Ryan notice Gavin look like he was going to attack, and pulled him towards him. "Don't." The older of the two warned. Gavin looked ready to kill before he stared up at Ryan, who was being surprisingly rational. "There's nothing to do. We can't protect anyone here."

"But they-"

"Fed." Ryan felt terrible for being so generous with how the vampires had treated the poor man on the ground. "Let's go find some people that need help."

Gavin felt sick, and even though what he ate at Ray's house didn't really affect his body at all, he stepped away from Ryan and vomited. All Ryan could do was wait for him to finish before rubbing his back and urging them onwards.

"Barbara, to your right!" Burnie yelled. She immediately moved before what looked like a zombie came at her. 

No, it was just a completely bloodthirsty vampire.

The woman in her Alice in Wonderland outfit hit the vampire with her weapon so hard, she fell back. When the female tried to get up, Barbara panicked and hit her again in the head. She didn't move again, and the blonde didn't know if that should settle or unsettle her.

Burnie took her hand and pulled her along. "There! Is that a child?" It was. She was desperately looking around, and screamed when Burnie came up to her.

"Don't worry! Don't worry...." He tried to calm her down, but she began to back away, unable to stop screeching. Where were her parents?

Barbara suddenly knelt down next to her. "It's okay. We're gonna help you get out of here." She looked over the girl's shoulder and saw vampire's turning their heads. Some looked away again, and others (that had bloodied mouths) began to take interest. "We're here to help you!"

The little girl began to stop. "A-Alice?"

"What?" Then Barbara understood. "Yeah, it's me. Alice. We've got to get somewhere safe, okay?"

"Wonderland?" She was still shocked.

Burnie rolled his eyes as Barbara kept the act up. "Soon. But for now, we need to find a safer place." She picked the girl up, who didn't protest at all. They began running to a building, where they found multiple people were inside.

Someone abruptly burst through the population of people. "My child! Kimberly!" The mother instantly took the child from Barbara. "Kimberly... I love you so much, Kimberly..."

"I'm glad we could help." Barbara smiled at the woman, who, in turn, gave her a weird look.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"It's Halloween..." Was her excuse. Then, she and Burnie left the building. 

The night air was cool enough for Ray to see his breath. He and Joel has fended off multiple vampires and helped others find shelter. They were a good team, Joel defending and Ray helping people. It was getting deeper and and deeper into night, and they were just beginning to walk down a completely blacked out street when a full force hit the younger man like a truck.

"Joel!" He screamed. He felt someone forcefully pulling him up, and then knocking him on the ground. His head hit the pavement multiple times, and Ray felt like he was being disconnected from the world as each violent 'smack' of his head against the ground was worse than the other. 

Joel finally managed to wrestle the vampire off of Ray, and knock him out of his senses. He then turned to his friend.

Ray was unconsious, and barely looked functional. Joel, with his advantage of being able to see at night, knew that Ray was in no shape to wake up any time soon.

Picking him up, the vampire was completely disoriented. What could he do? There were more people to help, but who was going to help Ray? Maybe he could get Ray back to the apartment...

Joel decided that was the better option, and circled back. He looked down at the limp body in his arms. Ray looked peaceful. In fact, it might've been the most peaceful that he looked in the past week. 

"Stop!" Someone was shouting at him. Joel looked up and saw a flashlight and a male police officer pointing a gun at him. "Put the man down!"

"...no, you see, this is all a misunderstanding." Joel tried to smile in a convincing way, which was hard to do when you had blood all over you from fending off so many violent people. "I'm trying to get him home." 

The officer wasn't buying it. "Stop bullshitting me and put him down!"

"I really wouldn't like to DO that." Joel was getting irritated. "Since he's in no state to be on this ground."

"I'll shoot!" The police man sounded much more like he was bluffing, but he got his bullet ready in the gun. "Put him down, or I'll shoot!"

Joel sighed, knowing what he had to do. "Shoot."

The bullet was already piercing his leg when he said that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, Suggestions, and Prompts Welcome!


	28. Shots Fired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joel's leg could give out at any second.  
> Gavin's heart could give out at any second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but more action than anticipated!  
> (Written to the Interstellar soundtrack)

Groaning, the old vampire tried not to let it seem like it hurt like a complete bitch. The police officer realized his mistake, but still kept the gun up as if he had another bullet.

"A-Are you done?" Suddenly, carrying Ray was like carrying a ton. "You can't kill what's already dead." Untrue. Untrue, but intimidating. The vampire made his expression sinister, yet smirked, like a true nightmare.

The police man, shaking like a leaf, ran away, leaving the gun behind. The facade unneeded, Joel nearly crumbled to the floor right then and there. Instead, he walked onward, forcing himself to stop cursing every time pressure was on the bad leg. Ray, like a rag doll, could only lay in Joel's arms, helpless.

It was Burnie who saw them,despite the lack of light. "Barbara, look!" He pointed them out. Joel heard the familiar voice and turned, pain obvious on his face. The two others ran over, worried.

"What happened!?" Barbara exclaimed. She stared at the body in Joel's grasp. "Is he okay?"

"Sho-should be..." Joel weakly stammered. He didn't have time for this. He had to get Ray home-

"Joel," Burnie looked him up and down. "What happened to you?"

The old immortal sighed a shaky sigh. "I-I had a little confront- issue with a cop." He suddenly felt very dizzy. Vampires couldn't die very easily, but they sure could faint.

"Joel, you've gotta get help." Burnie insisted. He tried to take Ray from him, but the vampire was stubborn.

"I have to get him home."

"We'll all go home with you, just let me take Ray."

The immortal felt too weak to argue. It was. pointless anyway. Burnie always had a thing with being right. He reluctantly let his superior take the small man from him. Barbara helped him walk, and they were at the apartment much faster than they would be if it was only Joel and Ray. But, of course, Joel wouldn't dare say so.

"Lay him on the table." Barbara said. It was an easier place to assess the damage. Joel sat on the couch, and let himself grown in pain. Burnie noticed as he gingerly placed the small man on the table that Barbara had cleared off easily. The two began looking him up and down, unsure what happened still.

Joel finally spoke up, realizing they had no idea what to do. "His head was-it was fuckin' banged on the floor multiple times." He looked at Ray. "You would've thought he'd wake up already..."

"Does he have any bandages?" Barbara asked. Joel could only shrug before groaning in pain again. Burnie went to go check, and came back shaking his head.

"We have to get him some." Was the only thing they could think of.

Joel knew that both of them would have to leave. "I'll watch him." He smiled with as much warmth as he could manage. "I can't do much, anyway."

Barbara nodded. "Okay." She opened the door. "We'll be back as soon as possible." And then she took off with the older man.

Ryan was helping another woman inside a building when he saw Gavin shift his eyes nervously. 

"What is it?" He turned to ask.

Gavin seemed to lose his voice. They had just left the building, but the British vampire refused to move. Ryan waited a few moments before asking again.

"What's-"

"She's here." He suddenly grabbed the sleeve of Ryan's hoodie. "I hear her. I BLOODY hear her."

"Who?" And then the older man heard it. The shriek of someone deranged, far gone. A scream of a woman who had no filter of who was or wasn't edible.

The Vampire Witch slammed into Gavin full force.

Gavin's screams were snuffed out by her body, cold fingers over his mouth, and the other hand choking him half-heartedly. It was just enough for him to not breath properly. To not breath enough. The British man could see, behind the horrid face that was the woman's, Ryan desperately trying to pry her off of him. 

"My dear, you look so different!" She was completely toying with him. "Let's see what's different!" She suddenly used to hand that was covering Gavin's mouth to open it and gaze at the two new, sharp teeth only a vampire could possess. "Ah, you've become a vampire!" She giggled like a school girl. "Like that can stop me from a good meal."

Flashbacks of being used came to Gavin in waves. Being in the Vampire Witch's home, thrown around like a rag. Erick and his goons, sucking away his life source painfully, and beating him just for kicks. He was so useless. Even as a vampire, there were people controlling whether he lived or died. 

"Get off of me!" With a sudden burst of energy, Gavin pushed her off of him. Standing up, Ryan could only stand back, knowing this wasn't something he could help Gavin with. The British vampire had the expression almost as mad at the woman herself, except he was frowning while she laughed, out of her mind.

"Have you got you second wind?" She taunted before running at him again. He was ready, and took her force. He slid back slightly, but then only pushed her to the ground. The thin woman couldn't believe she was thrown down, and tried to get up again.

Gavin got in top of the witch in seconds, punching her, yelling nonsense. Her attempts at clawing at him dwindled, until she passed out. For Gavin, that wasn't an invitation to stop. He continue to throw more and more punches at her, and heard a very sickening 'crack' at one point.

It was only when he was yanked backwards and on his ass did he notice that Ryan had been trying to pull him away the entire time. "Gavin, what the FUCK." He was pissed off. "You KILLED her!" He didn't know. "You bashed her skull in!" He had no idea. "She's completely dead, yet you kept going! What the hell's the matter with you?"

"That's the Vampire Witch, Ryan." Gavin got up shakily, still shocked about what he'd done. His hands were bloody with hers only. "That's the woman that tried to kill me in the Neighborhood."

The older man barely had time to react before the Brit buried his face in his chest. "What've I done?" His voice was muffled, but Ryan still heard it.

"We've got to go, Gav." Ryan knew the younger was sensitive, but they were attracting attention. "There are people looking at us. Let's go to Ray's for a few minutes, alright?" Someone had to be the voice of reason. 

"Okay..." They began to hurry in the direction of their coworker's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: aam5ever  
> Comments, Suggestions, and Prompts welcome!!!


	29. Just Another Sip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray offers himself to Joel as more than just an indulgence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has experienced much more depth than it should've.  
> It wasn't supposed to be THIS emotional.  
> I still hope you enjoy!

Ray suddenly sputtered awake before Burnie or Barbara could get back. 

"I-JOEL! JOEL!" He was shrieking, trying to get up. 

Said man had been slowly drifting off, but the sudden screams jolted him back to consiousness. He went to Ray, and just as he reached him, Joel's bad leg gave out from under him, he sat on the floor next to Ray, who's table was pretty low.

"Joel, what- I don't- what happened?" He tried to turn his head, but the pain only caused him to yelp and groan.

"You were knocked out." He explained. "And then a police man shot me. And now we're here." That was the short version of it. "Calm down... Ba-Barbara and- fuck!" The vampire cursed when a fresh jolt of pain shot up his bad leg. "They're getting bandages... maybe medicine..." 

Ray was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. His voice was small. "What about your leg?" 

"I managed to take the bullet out myself..." The experience made a chill go down his spine. "But I'm not in good shape."

"Vampires get healed with they feed from humans, right?"

The question hung in the air, and Joel didnt know how to react to it. What was Ray suggesting? 

"No."

"Don't lie to me."

The older vampire sighed, swaying slightly from weakness. Around him, the world moved unnaturally. He saw Ray's small fingers reach out and shakily rest on his own shoulder. 

"Ray, if I feed off you, you may die."

"At least I'll be worth more." The human admitted. "With my blood in you, you can heal yourself. Help the others more than I could." Ray let himself smile. "Besides, I'm pretty sure I won't die so easily."

Joel inhaled, and all he could smell was the man's blood. It was intoxicating. Joel knew the hunger was going to get to him. "I couldn't... what if I can't control myself?"

"I'm going to trust you..." Ray's voice cracked slightly. He was scared of that possibility too. He was even more scared that he hoped Joel couldn't control himself. "I'm going to trust you, and I hope you can trust yourself to stop." Painfully, the man craned his neck upwards. The former bite, inviting Joel's fangs to fit into them once more like a child's square into a hole.

The vampire's skin crawled with anticipation. "I love you Ray." He whispered as he stared at the elongated, pale neck. 

"I know."

Joel saw the eyelashes flutter shut, ready to let whatever happen, happen. He shifted into position, getting ready to feed. The fangs hovered over the spot before slipping into it, and reopening the wound in a way. A sharp intake of breath from the figure beneath him assured Joel that he felt it. 

Slowly, Joel let himself partake in the fresh blood flowing out of Ray's neck, into his mouth. The sweet red was enough to get drunk off of, but he had to keep himself in check. Only take enough to live off of.

But he could live off of all of it.

Ray felt slightly faint, but he didn't know how much the vampire would need to be able to heal himself. He also didn't know when Joel was simply sucking for the taste instead of the need. But, he was too weak to possibly stop him when it was too much. There was no Gavin or Michael to pull him off of him this time. 

Joel felt revived. His wound was healing, almost done sewing itself back together. The feeling of cold dread settled on him. He didn't want to stop. But, he tried not to think about how he can't stop, and focused on when he should. Slowly, he found himself retracting from Ray, and licked at the extra blood still trickling down the man's throat. He then leaned back, his brown eyes flicking over to Ray's. He found the man smiling.

"Are you better?" The human asked. Joel nodded, surprised he was still consious. 

"How do you feel?" 

"Like shit," He admitted. "but hopefully that'll change soon." Ray's facial expression changed to a calmer one. "I'm gonna... sleep... now..." And then he passed out again.

For a moment, Joel panicked, but then the rise and fall of his chest assured that the man was still alive at least. The door was suddenly knocked on, and the vampire opened it. Gavin and Ryan stood there instead of who he was expecting. 

"C-can we come in?" Gavin was clinging onto one of Ryan's sleeves. He looked like he had seen and been attacked by a ghost. 

Joel tried to smile in a friendly way. "Of course." He opened the door more, letting them in. Behind them, Barbara and Burnie had just arrived. They had bags full of random things. 

"There was nobody looking after the store." Barbara said. "So it isn't stealing, right?" 

"Sure, Barb." Joel let them in. Closing the door behind them, he started with an explanation. "Ray got beat around by some random vampire. We brung him back here. I took a bullet wound, but it healed naturally." They didn't have to know how exactly. "What the hell happened to you, Gav?"

"The Vampire Witch..." The name sparked a memory in Joel. He had forgotten about her. "...is dead."

"Dead?" The old vampire was curious. "You saw her killed?"

Gavin seemed to close in on himself. He looked... ashamed. Ryan spoke up, knowing the Brit wasn't about to. "He killed her."

Barbara and Burnie, not too educated about Gavin's past encounter, stayed in silent shock. Joel bit his lip with one of his still bloody fangs, and Burnie couldn't help but wonder how they gotten stained. Only then did he look down at Ray and see the blood not only from his clothes, but now on his neck... this was suspicious. 

"Gavin... did you bite her?" Asked Joel.

"I would never!" He shakily shouted, as if the very thought offended him. He then brought his voice down to a whisper. "The bloody witch attacked me, I attacked her..."

"He did all he could to stop her." Ryan left it at that. There was no need to have Gavin relive it again. He had been so shaken, and didn't seem to be getting any better.

Barbara decided to start a new topic. "We have bandages. Can we wake him? He may be able to take some medicine. Pain killers." She removed the bottle from one of the bags and shook it. Burnie removed the bandages as well. 

"We don't know if he needs stitches." He said. "But whatever we can do right now, we will." Burnie kept a trained eye on Joel. Something wasn't right. He wasn't telling them everything.

"I'll try to clean myself up." Joel said. "Maybe I can find new pants, since these are fucked up beyond repair." He chuckled to lighten the mood before he went to change. Burnie immediately went to check Ray's neck, and cursed once he did.

"Goddamn it, Joel." He said under his breath. It wasn't something Ryan didn't hear, though.

He tried to see what Burnie was looking at. "What's wrong?"

Burnie sighed a frustrated sigh. He ran a hand through his short curls and adjusted his glasses before looking at Ryan. "Joel just can't fucking control himself, can he?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: aam5ever


	30. Assumption's Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Assume if you want to make an ass of yourself.  
> And you can't save them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A more emotional chapter, this taps into how Burnie sometimes feels about Joel, along with how Ray feels about the entire situation.  
> Heartbreaking, to say the least.  
> Exactly what I wanted. XD

After saying what he believed Joel had possibly done, Burnie saw slight disgust drift over all of their faces.

"He wouldn't take advantage of Ray in that way..." Gavin shook his head in disbelief. "Not in all of this madness."

Barbara bit her lip. "I don't know. It does help vampires heal... he hadn't had blood to heal himself... the agent's blood must've not been working."

"We have to ask." Ryan said. "That's all. Ray told us we can't speak ABOUT him. Speak TO him." He had to respect his friend's wishes. They silently nodded as Barbara wound the bandages around Ray's head and Burnie lifted it for her. The blood began seeping through the white gauze, but they didn't know what else to do. 

"No word from Lindsay? Tina? Brandon?" Joel had come back in the room. His teeth were cleaner, his jeans replaced. They were Ray's of course. Slightly tight, but he'd have to deal with that.

Barbara shook her head. "No." She then looked up at him. "Joel... did you, um..." She didn't know how to phrase the question.

"Did you bite Ray?" Gavin blurted out. Maybe it wasn't so hard to ask after all.

Joel looked confused for a second, then realized what they meant. With a serious look on his face, he nodded. "But-"

"Why the hell would you do that?" Burnie yelled at him. "You could've killed him!"

Damn, did that hit Joel like a brick. "I made sure I couldn't. He was a-"

"There was so much risk in that!" Ryan stressed. "You were thinking, right? He wasn't even consious-"

"He was!" The older vampire finally got to blurt out. "He told me to do it. He said for me to."

"No matter what he said, you know how you get around blood." Burnie was pissed. "Like any other vampire, it's hard to control yourself. What if you didn't stop, like you almost did with that agent?"

"There's a difference-"

"What difference? They're both humans, they were both helpless-"

"Burnie, do you fucking realize I know the difference between someone I hate and someone I love?!" Joel was yelling at him. "The agent was someone I could've easily killed without a second thought. A victim to my monster. If I ever even thought of... I could NEVER fucking harm Ray like that! I love him to the point of actually having some sort of conscious when it comes to him. How cant you fucking get that?" He was furious that they were thinking about him like an animal. It was even more appalling that he thought of himself like more of an animal than Ray ever did.

The room was silent, and outside of the building, screams and a siren were simultaneously making a racket. Finally, Gavin said something.

"How're you feeling, Ray?"

He had woken up in the middle of their argument, and only the Brit had seen him open his eyes in dazed confusion. The screaming must've been enough to get him to resurface from wherever he was. Barbara continued to wrap the gauze until she was sure it was enough, and secured it. Silently, the blonde rose and went to fill a cup with water. 

"Gavin, if I could say swell..." He propped himself up on his elbows. "I'd be a dirty liar." He chuckled at the bittersweet joke, and nobody else joined in. "I'm in some pain. Ya'know how it is."

"I-I guess..." Gavin was weirded out by Ray's chill behavior. Usually it was the only way Ray reacted. But in such tense times... it seemed misplaced. Out of place.

"Here." Barbara had a glass of water in one hand and two pills in the other. "For the pain." Her voice cracked slightly. He took the offering and did as she suggested, ingesting the tablets.

"Ray..." Joel didn't know what to say. The argument between him and Burnie was so heated, he didn't know how to talk to Ray. What should he say? Should he say anything?

The younger man already had an answer. "Joel, you could've killed me." It was said so nonchalantly, with such a light voice, it could almost not be taken seriously. "But, like I said, I'm worth much more in you than fucking incapacitated." He took another drink of water. Blood was in the water when he finished. "Are the vampires gone?"

"No..." Ryan said cautiously. "Not really..."

"Than why are you guys here?" The younger man said. "Seriously, aren't there more important things than worrying about me?"

"In some cases, no," Burnie told him. "but we did save people. Got them to safe places."

"And the vampires?" Ray wasn't satisfied with Burnie's answer. "You guys don't understand; we need to help them too. The ones that are lost and confused. Or else, the Goddamn police are gonna get the wrong people."

"We can't save them all." Barbara smoothed down her powder blue dress. "And we aren't done."

"You guys aren't trying hard enough."

"You aren't giving us enough credit." Ryan was getting fed up with his coworker's attitude. "We aren't the Navy. We aren't superheroes. We're a few employees with bats and subpar wits. What we're doing in the dead of night is more than what many would do. We've stopped here to rest; not all of us are vampires that can afford to keep going day and night and day again." He was keeping a level head. "Ray, you have to calm down."

"I'm calm." He tried to convince them. A pang of pain shot through his head, but he played off the wince with shifting him position on the table. "I'm totally calm. I just don't understand why we aren't doing more to save everyone."

"We're not going to save everyone, Ray!" Gavin couldn't stress that enough. "Bollocking hell, I just saw a man's neck torn open in the most violent manner. They made a dog's dinner out of him before I could even run over." The British man stood up. "I'm not finished fighting, but it's hard to save everyone when you can't fly like Superman." He left the apartment. 

Burnie and Barbara stood up as well. "We should go, too." Ryan nodded and joined them in leaving. They were obviously not in the mood to fight with Ray. Yet, they all did know that he was only being so difficult because of the entire situation.

"Joel," Burnie turned back to look at him. "I understand... I understand what you meant. Of course you have a conscious... I was wrong for saying that." He then left.

Joel understood the apology, and accepted it. He then looked down at Ray, who was slowly trying to get up. 

"Woah, woah, woah..." He placed a hand on the younger's chest, trying to stop him. "What are you doing?"

"Going to help." He tried to get up again, but Joel held him in place. 

He furrowed his brow. "You're kidding."

"Why would I be kidding?" Ray said. "We have to save-"

"Ray, you're becoming insane." Joel stared at him. "This fantasy of saving everyone has to stop. We're going to do what we CAN. This matter is not going to be solved in hours or even days." 

The Hispanic glared at Joel. "People are dying. Do you not get that? If I hadn't let you bite me, this would've happened. If I hadn't went after you, this would've happened." He was tearing up. "I have to fix this now. It's my fault, I have to fix this now." He tried pushing Joel's hand away, but it didn't move.

"What do you mean by 'your fault'?" The vampire was confused. "Why do you think it's your fault?"

"Because as soon as you broke out, everything just started... unraveling..." Hot tears started coming down his face.

They glistened, and Joel didn't know how to feel just yet. "You think..." He sighed. "You think you started this?" When Ray nodded, Joel shook his head in disbelief. "This would've happened either way, Ray." He enveloped the younger man in a hug.

Ray tried to push away. "Get off! I have to go fix this! I have... I have to..." His sobs were breaking up his words. "You asshole! I got to- get off!" His head was hurting, not as much as it did before, but enough to bring tears to his eyes for a second reason. He finally wrapped his own arms around Joel and cried into the grimy sweatshirt he had been wearing. It wasn't ideal, but it was enough.

Michael, Tina, and Brandon weren't having good luck with the police officers. They had gotten to use the radio, and Michael was speaking to them.

"For FUCK'S SAKE, LISTEN!" He yelled. "Attack the people who are attacking OTHERS! Don't attack the ones that are harmless!"

"You aren't our fucking boss, AND all the vampires are supposed to be taken into custody." One of them responded. "This is madness, I can't believe I'm even listening to you right now."

"YOU HARDLY ARE, ASSHOLE!" Michael was furious. Tina calmly pushed him out of the way. 

"You're not really an ideal person to take orders from." She said lightheartedly. Then Tina began to speak. "Attention all police officers handling the Austin's vampire outbreak: Attack only ones who are posing a DIRECT threat to humans and vampires alike. Not all vampires are hostile. I repeat, only attack or take into custody the hostile vampires. Humans too, if they cause havoc."

"Ma'am, whoever that other guy was, thank you for replacing him." Another one of the police officers replied. "I understand what you're saying, but the chaos here is ridiculous."

Tina nodded before responding. "We only expect your best."

"I'll try..." He said. 

Brandon looked over to the other two. "Why would they leave the police station abandoned?"

"Are all on duty?" Michael asked with a shrug. 

"No..." Brandon said. "I think this place was attacked earlier." A bloodstain near Michael supported his suspicions.

Tina turned to look at Brandon. "When do you think this'll be over?"

"...I'm not sure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: aam5ever


	31. New Dice to an Old Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Halloween night was terrible. People dead, people mourning, people weeping...  
> Soon, it's going to get so, so much worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the ending of story arc #1!  
> Yes, this is getting continued.  
> I'm excited too.  
> I TURNED OUT LOVING THIS TOO MUCH TO LET IT GO SOFTLY INTO THE NIGHT.  
> You'll see the next one (Vampire!Joel: Oppressed) soon. I'm basically writing it now.  
> I hope you guys keep track of this, because the next book (I'm just gonna call these 'books') will be pretty intense as well.  
> I hope I see some familiar commenters and readers!  
> And new ones too!

At one point in the night, everyone got to Ray's apartment again. At one point in the night, Joel suddenly thought of Walter. At one point in the night (even though it should be called early morning) the special police forces were called. They didn't know when, but these things happened.

The morning was one you wouldn't want to experience.

The bodies of vampires and humans alike could be seen from the balcony of an apartment. Blood stained the roads. You could still taste the hysteria that was occurring only the night before. Police and special forces were looking up and down the streets for any more vampires they had to either help or harm. There were also people they had to save, too. Children, crying out for their mothers and fathers. Women, kneeling over the bodies of their loved ones and weeping openly. Men, trying to keep a front, yet failing once realizing that they had people they cared about ripped away from them too. It was devestating.

Burnie woke up when he heard a familiar ringtone. Geoff was calling, and the man picked up right before the other was going to give up.

"Burnie!" He shouted. "Are you there? Is everyone okay?"

Burnie winced at the man's octave. "Nothing but bumps and bruises here, bud. We're all intact."

"There's a citywide shutdown; nobody comes in or leaves for now." Geoff informed him, just in case he hadn't known. Burnie had no idea until just then. "God damn, it was a mess yesterday. Fuckin' chaos. People kept banging at our door, scaring us all half to death!"

"This is all insane..." Burnie felt bad for Geoff. At least he knew what was going on, though. Not many people had any idea what was going on that night. "What're they going to do about the vampire issue? Are they going to try to take them away again? Leave them alone?"

"I'm watching the news right now." The tattooed man told him. "You should too." He shook his head in disbelief. "I'll call you later."

"Alright, later." He hung up as well, found Ray's remote, and turned on the TV. The president was the one speaking, once he turned to the right channel. Around him, the others were waking up to the noise. Lindsay, Michael, and Brandon in the bedroom couldn't hear, but everyone else had started to complain.

"What the fuck, Burns?" Barbara groaned. Her mouth tasted like grime and a slight hint of blood. She yearned to brush her teeth, but realized what Burnie was watching. Tina, next to her, noticed too.

"People of America," The president began. "let me assure you that I am well aware of what has happened in Texas." He straightened his suit jacket. "This... Neighborhood outbreak has caused a very big upset with the community. Violent vampires running amok... it's nonsensical. So, what I now say is directed to the vampires of our nation." He pointedly faced the camera. "Know that we are keeping careful watch of you all. Any suspicious or violent activity will be questioned, and you will be punished. Neighborhoods do not seem to be working out, so we will cease their existence." Tina silently whooped. "However, police watch over your people will be at almost all times when in public. This isn't only for the safety of our humans, but of your species' harmless citizens. Also, everyone, do not hesitate to report suspicious activity to your nearest authorities.." 

Gavin, to the left, rolled his eyes. They were now going to be in basically captivity? No free roaming? No slight rough housing, or else detainment? What complete horse shit. These new rules they held over their heads could only be misinterpreted now. At least, that's what he thought.

When the president was finished speaking, Burnie shut the TV off and groaned, rubbing his eyes. "This isn't going well."

"I don't think it ever will." Ryan said. "Vampires will now be treated like weapons. Possibly deadly at all times." He wasn't wrong. 

"We aren't gonna bloody parade around and kill everyone all smegging day!" Exclaimed Gavin. "This is so- I can't even explain how stupid this is!"

Ray sat up, his head feeling better than yesterday. "Listen, right now, we can't fight the government." He learned that the hard way. You can't always be the hero. "We'll see how the prez's idea works. If it actually controls who needs to be controlled, fucking wonderful. Good job Mr. President." He sighed, stretching his back. "If it doesn't, I'm sure there will already be riots about it before we can even form a slight parade." He was pretty fed up of everything.

Joel looked over at Ray, and noticed how tired he was. Not, like, phsyically tired. The man looked unhealthy. He hadn't had the best diet when retrieving the old vampire from the Neighborhood, and he came back only to get nightmares and fights that he was barely able to fight. Ray's eyelids were drooping, and dark bags were underneath them. He slouched more than usual, as if the weight of the world in his shoulders. At one point, Ray had sworn it was. The cuts and scrapes on his skin weren't doing him any justice either. Joel felt heartbroken looking at the man he loved, realizing how little he had done to protect him from the harshness of their reality. Was there anything he could even do?

"Ray's right." Joel saw the lazy smile on the younger man's face, and a flowering warmth blossomed in his body. Maybe this is helping. "Do you know what we need? We need a good amount of God damn rest. A couple years' worth." He chuckled, and others did with him. "Fuck the government, of course, but for now, we lay and wait. Wait for our time to maybe do something constructive about it, if it's still bad once we're done recovering from this fucking- fucking whatever the fuck happened."

They all nodded. Finally, Gavin stood up and stretched his own muscles.

"So now we wait?" He asked.

The old vampire nodded, standing up as well. "Yes. So now, we wait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: aam5ever  
> Message me!  
> (I accept questions, comments, fanart (if you would be so kind), and spin-offs (with credit) about this work)  
> I also apologize that this chapter was so short XD it's forshadowing for what is to come.


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